Island Birthday

*2016 Maine Lupine Award Winner* Riley’s birthday is coming, but the mail plane with his gifts from the mainland hasn’t been able to get to the island for days because of bad weather. In a mood that matches the weather, he agrees to help Uncle Harv collect driftwood to make furniture. One thing leads to another as it always does on a small island, and eventually Riley realizes that everything he needs for a great birthday is already right at hand. Fountas & Pinnell Level O

Them Dark Days is a study of the callous, capitalistic nature of the vast rice plantations along the southeastern coast. It is essential reading for anyone whose view of slavery’s horrors might be softened by the current historical emphasis on slave community and family and slave autonomy and empowerment. Looking at Gowrie and Butler Island plantations in Georgia and Chicora Wood in South Carolina, William Dusinberre considers a wide range of issues related to daily life and work there: health, economics, politics, dissidence, coercion, discipline, paternalism, and privilege. Based on overseers’ letters, slave testimonies, and plantation records, Them Dark Days offers a vivid reconstruction of slavery in action and casts a sharp new light on slave history.

Widely thought of as the best book Terry Pratchett ever wrote, this is a story of a Nation, a story of a friendship, a story of growing up and the truths we must learn. It is epic in every sense . . . Prepare for the world to be turned upside down . . . For Mau, halfway between boy and man, it happens when a great wave destroys his entire village. For Daphne, it’s when the same wave crashes her ship into the island that was once Mau’s home. Everything they once had is now so far away, lost to distance and time. But when Daphne stops trying to shoot Mau (she did apologise for it), and instead uses a salvaged invitation card to invite him to tea, they discover a new home can be theirs. And then people start arriving on the island – some very good, some very bad. And it’s soon clear that Daphne and Mau must fight for their Nation. Then a discovery is made that will change the entire world forever . . .

Ambon in Indonesia is the finishing point for the annual Darwin to Ambon International Yacht Race. Magpie was nominated for two consecutive years to participate in the handicap cruising class. The second time Magpie raced to Ambon, it was decided that the return journey would not be back to Darwin but rather down the east coast of Australia to Adelaide, South Australia. This was an adventure that took seven months to complete and included hitting reefs, visiting many of the islands of the Great Barrier Reef, close encounters with wildlife, and many other exciting events. During a stopover at Black Head, the bottom of New South Wales, we heard the mayday call for the yacht Gypsy Moth V, aground on the rocks at Gabo Island. Crossing the notorious Bass Strait turned out to be a not as fearsome as expected as the seas were calm, and we were able to see quite clearly the many offshore oil rigs. Explanations of observed phenomena is explained in detail to give the reader as much information as possible.

Scholarly studies of Chinese culture, history and society, both within and outside of China, generally pay little attention to leisure, entertainment and amusement, though it has long been known that this aspect of life gives a deep understanding of the psyche and soul, and the hopes and fears, of a person. Leisure is a less coerced-upon, mandatory human conduct than work; certainly leisurely conduct is more voluntary, expressive and creative. But when seen as human behaviour, leisure and entertainment cannot be separated from history, heritage, ethnicity, the community, family and kin, rituals and customs – thus a collective activity and its constraints on the person. This book examines a variety of genre of Chinese entertainment, from singing clubs, Cantonese opera and film, to Chinese rock and tourism. Though formally voluntary, Chinese entertainment, when entangled with ethnicity, heritage and history, is ironically a site of both enjoyment and struggle, both pleasure and suffering. This book was originally published as a special issue of Visual Anthropology.

The story takes up where Amelias Secrets left off; after the murder trial held in Jacksonville, Florida where the accused, great-great-grandson of President Thomas Jefferson, T. J. Eppes murderer of one of his best friends and father of six children walks out of the courtroom a free man. He returns to Amelia Island there to carry on life as usual with his beautiful young bride Katie, expecting their first child, only to find life for her to be a daily trial by a jury of her peers; an impossible situation in the end. Our protagonist John Whitner describes in detail not only their lives culminating in the great hurricane of 1898, which nearly devastates the island but through the lives of the Carnegies of Cumberland Island, Mrs. Leddy owner and operator of the Florida House Hotel and her only child Grace from age eight through her progression to adulthood, marriage, babies and widowhood at the young age of twenty one. John, himself reveals his journey through all this, his relationship with Pauline; its ups and downs, a new woman in his life (or women) as well as his passion for photography in the many places he visits, Jekyl Island, Charleston, S. C. during the earthquake of 1886 and Chicagos Worlds fair of 1893. Meticulous research and beautiful descriptions bring nineteenth century Amelia Island to life. With creative flair, Ms. Carter-de Vries uses the first person narrative of her storyteller, John Whitner, to recreate the turbulence of natural disasters and societys mores and make the past inhabitants of Amelia Island walk off the pages. Whether youre a visitor to the island or a life-long resident, you will find much to enjoy in Carter-de Vries Golden Years, Silver Tears. Karen White New York Times bestselling author THE TIME BETWEEN, NAL/Penguin Publishing Group June 2013