Gunk Baby

A New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice "[Lau's] gift for writing accumulative insanities creates the same dizzying effect as a good cleaning." —Alexandra Tanner, The New York Times Book Review “A dissociative meditation on a world that has come to feel increasingly meaningless . . . [Lau's] prose combines the languid torpor of Michael Bible with the unease of Yoko Ogawa's more macabre work." ―Declan Fry, The Guardian A black comedy workplace thriller set in a sprawling indoor shopping mall about a cabal of low-wage workers who plot violent acts of “resistance” against their managers. In the suburb of Par Mars stand a pair of identical shopping centers, each with the same harsh, fluorescent lights, climate-controlled environment, and monotonous encounters between employees and shoppers. Reviving an ancient Chinese ritual passed down by her mother, twenty-four-year-old Leen has opened an ear-cleaning and massage studio in the Topic Heights Shopping Center. But the social fabric of Par Mars is coming loose, and a quiet unrest is growing among the mall’s low-wage workers as store managers begin to fall victim to increasingly brutal and spontaneous attacks. When Leen befriends Jean Paul, a pharmacist enmeshed in a cryptic online community, she finds herself embroiled in a troubling plot to disrupt the routines of the town’s banal consumer culture. With fierce intellect, sharp wit, and original prose, Jamie Marina Lau interprets and vividly portrays the everyday violence and toil of contemporary working life. Encapsulating millennial ennui and middle-class boredom, Gunk Baby is an inventive and deliberate novel from a fresh, new, exciting voice.

A New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice "[Lau's] gift for writing accumulative insanities creates the same dizzying effect as a good cleaning." —Alexandra Tanner, The New York Times Book Review “A dissociative meditation on a world that has come to feel increasingly meaningless . . . [Lau's] prose combines the languid torpor of Michael Bible with the unease of Yoko Ogawa's more macabre work." ―Declan Fry, The Guardian A black comedy workplace thriller set in a sprawling indoor shopping mall about a cabal of low-wage workers who plot violent acts of “resistance” against their managers. In the suburb of Par Mars stand a pair of identical shopping centers, each with the same harsh, fluorescent lights, climate-controlled environment, and monotonous encounters between employees and shoppers. Reviving an ancient Chinese ritual passed down by her mother, twenty-four-year-old Leen has opened an ear-cleaning and massage studio in the Topic Heights Shopping Center. But the social fabric of Par Mars is coming loose, and a quiet unrest is growing among the mall’s low-wage workers as store managers begin to fall victim to increasingly brutal and spontaneous attacks. When Leen befriends Jean Paul, a pharmacist enmeshed in a cryptic online community, she finds herself embroiled in a troubling plot to disrupt the routines of the town’s banal consumer culture. With fierce intellect, sharp wit, and original prose, Jamie Marina Lau interprets and vividly portrays the everyday violence and toil of contemporary working life. Encapsulating millennial ennui and middle-class boredom, Gunk Baby is an inventive and deliberate novel from a fresh, new, exciting voice.

The first twelve months of your child's life can be as challenging as they are rewarding. From birth through baby's first birthday, this revised edition guides you through all the critical milestones, focusing on such topics as: Breastfeeding and bottle-feeding Preparing food, including organic options and food allergies Tracking baby's development Traveling with baby Choosing safe toys and games This edition includes completely new material on: Baby sign language Juggling parenting and a career Bottle safety Making your own baby food Playgroups The latest research on vaccines This guide also includes updated medical information, a detailed explanation of baby gear (what parents really need, and what they don't), and a new chapter on returning to work. You will reach for this valuable resource time and again as you make your way through these exciting months with your beautiful new baby!

Scientifically sound and charmingly written, this guide to the bugs on your windshield is an unexpected delight. Includes weird and wonderful activities for kids of all ages.

Very simple, easy-to-read text pairs up with fun photographs to teach little readers that eyes are for seeing, as well as all the beautiful things they can see! Aligned to Common Core Standards and correlated to state standards. Abdo Kids is a division of ABDO.

Blending digital fever dream and hard-boiled noir in bursts of claustrophobic prose, a teenager follows her maybe-boyfriend into the seedy corners of the art world.

“Dan Gerber tenderly reels his readers through the ‘beautiful movie’ he calls the passing of time on earth in a language completely unadorned and Zen-like in its quietude. The thing itself carries the weight of these poems, which recall the deep imagery of Vallejo, Neruda and Wright.”—Rain Taxi Dan Gerber is a master of layered, bittersweet imagery. In his seventh book of poems, he writes of childhood misgivings and fears, the oak savannah landscape of California’s central coast, and a near-mystical relationship with nature. As novelist John Nichols once wrote of Gerber’s poetry, “Dan Gerber has an exquisitely muted, yet profound understanding of tragedy, love, family, and the haunting vagaries of nature.” “Some Distance” I wanted to be a stone in the field, simply that, and then I wanted to be the grass around it, and then the cattle grazing under the too blue sky, and then the blue, which has of itself no substance, and yet goes on and on and on. Dan Gerber is the author of a dozen books of poetry, fiction, essays, and memoir. He has earned the Mark Twain Award, Book of the Year honors from ForeWord Magazine, and inclusion in The Best American Poetry. He lives in Santa Ynez, California.