The Boy And The Globe

A lively and compelling novel published to mark the 400th anniversary of William Shakespeare's death, woven from the few known facts of his young life.

Walker Brown was born with a genetic mutation so rare that doctors call it an orphan syndrome: perhaps 300 people around the world also live with it. Walker turns twelve in 2008, but he weighs only 54 pounds, is still in diapers, can't speak and needs to wear special cuffs on his arms so that he can't continually hit himself. 'Sometimes watching him,' Brown writes, 'is like looking at the man in the moon – but you know there is actually no man there. But if Walker is so insubstantial, why does he feel so important? What is he trying to show me?' In The Boy in the Moon, Brown sets out to answer that question, a journey that takes him into deeply touching and troubling territory. 'All I really want to know is what goes on inside his off-shaped head,' he writes, 'But every time I ask, he somehow persuades me to look into my own.'

"As Betty Jane Hegerat struggles with a new piece of fiction, she recalls an infamous murder case that shares many similarities with the story she is proposing to write. Fifty years after the trial of Robert Raymond Cook, Hegerat re-examines the evidence from the grisly crime for which the accused received the death penalty. She is both repulsed and intrigued. Did Cook commit the murders? And, if so, what possessed the young man to murder his entire family - his father, stepmother and half-siblings? In The Boy Hegerat's fiction and Cook's story become entwined. The author and her narrator engage in a dialogue that explores what drives a young boy to murder, and what ultimately constitutes reality and fiction."--Page 4 of cover.

Oh, when will it snow again? wonders the little family who lives in the snow globe. They long for a swirling snowstorm—if only someone in the big family would pick up the snow globe and give it a great big shake. Baby would love to. She alone notices the little family. She gazes longingly at their snowy little world, but the snow globe is up way too high for her to reach. Then, when a real snowstorm sends the big children outside sledding in the moonlight, Baby finds herself alone in the parlor. . . . Will the snow globe family at last get a chance to go sledding too? As readers follow the parallel adventures of both families, big and little, they will take special pleasure in the miniature world of the snow globe, where the skating pond is the size of a shiny quarter and a snowman is no bigger than a sugar cube.

People use concepts such as time and date to structure their lives on a daily basis. They often measure their travel by marking points arranged along great circles on the globe. Yet most do not understand the origin and history of these terms and the stories of the intrepid adventurers, scientists, and seafarers who shaped our picture of the world today. Ariel transports readers to faraway lands and ancient cultures that span more than 3500 years of exploration. Phoenicians, Spaniards, Portuguese, British, French, and many others star in an epic that stretches from Lapland to Cape Horn, via Greenwich, Paris, the Andes and the Fortunate Islands. This book is a collection of stories and myths about geography, navigation, and geodesy— the science that deals with the Earth's figure and the interrelationship of selected points on its surface-that reaches far beyond dry scientific texts to concentrate on the people behind the discoveries. The knowledge and understanding of abstract notions such as the Prime Meridian, the Equator, and the International Date Line is conveyed through emphasis on the human spirit that motivated the pioneer scientists and sailors. It is a tale littered with heroes and villains, battles, tragedies and international intrigue. Readers will learn of a time when nothing was certain—even the shape and size of the earth were the subjects of fierce competition, conflict, and politics.

A quarter-Canadian from Cleveland explores his roots--and melts your face with joy. Most American children are taught that their country is the "best." But this idea never stuck with Dave Hill, despite being born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio. His grandfather, you see, was from Canada. And every Sunday at dinner he'd remind Dave and anyone else within earshot that it was in fact Canada, this magical and mysterious land just across the mighty Lake Erie, that was the "best." So while Dave's peers kept busy with football and baseball, Dave got into hockey, developed a preference for Canadian bacon, and was well-versed in the Canadian healthcare system by age nine (okay, the last one is not true). In later years he even visited Canada a couple of times. And then, inspired by a publisher's payment of several hundred dollars (Canadian) in cash, he travelled all over the country, reconnecting with his heritage in such places as Montreal, Moose Jaw, Regina, Winnipeg, Merrickville and of course Clinton, Ontario, meeting a range of Canadians, touching things he probably shouldn't and having adventures too numerous and rich in detail to be done justice in this blurb. The result, he promises, is "the greatest Canada-based literary thrill ride of your lifetime."

A breathtaking reimagining of ancient India through the extraordinary life of Yasodhara, the woman who married the Buddha—from the bestselling, award-winning author of Funny Boy and The Hungry Ghosts. In this sweeping tale, at once epic and intimate, Shyam Selvadurai introduces us to Siddhartha Gautama—who will later become “the enlightened one,” or the Buddha—an unusually bright and politically astute young man settling into his upper-caste life as a newlywed to Yasodhara, a woman of great intelligence and spirit. Mansions of the Moon traces the couple’s early love and life together, and then the anguished turmoil that descends upon them both as Siddhartha’s spiritual calling takes over and the marriage partnership slowly, inexorably crumbles. Eventually, Yasodhara is forced to ask what kind of life a woman can lead in ancient India if her husband abandons her—even a well-born woman such as herself. And is there a path she, too, might take towards enlightenment? Award-winning writer Shyam Selvadurai examines these questions with empathy and insight, creating a vivid portrait of a fascinating time and place, the intricate web of power, family and relationships that surround a singular marriage, and the remarkable woman who, until now, has remained a little-understood shadow in the historical record. Mansions of the Moon is an immersive, lively and thrilling feat of literary imagination.

From the author of USA Today bestseller The Girl With All the Gifts, a terrifying new novel set in the same post-apocalyptic world. Once upon a time, in a land blighted by terror, there was a very clever boy. The people thought the boy could save them, so they opened their gates and sent him out into the world. To where the monsters lived.