The Watermelon Boys

It is the winter of 1915 and Iraq has been engulfed by the First World War. Hungry for independence from Ottoman rule, Ahmad leaves his peaceful family life on the banks of the Tigris to join the British-led revolt. Thousands of miles away, Welsh teenager Carwyn reluctantly enlists and is sent, via Gallipoli and Egypt, to the Mesopotamia campaign. Carwyn’s and Ahmad’s paths cross, and their fates are bound together. Both are forever changed, not only by their experience of war, but also by the parallel discrimination and betrayal they face. Ruqaya Izzidien’s evocative debut novel is rich with the heartbreak and passion that arise when personal loss and political zeal collide, and offers a powerful retelling of the history of British intervention in Iraq.

"It is the winter of 1915 and Iraq has been engulfed by the First World War. Hungry for independence from Ottoman rule, Ahmad leaves his peaceful family life on the banks of the Tigris to join the British-led revolt. Thousands of miles away, Welsh teenager Carwyn reluctantly enlists and is sent, via Gallipoli and Egypt, to the Mesopotamia campaign.Carwyn's and Ahmad's paths cross, and their fates are bound together. Both are forever changed, not only by their experience of war, but also by the parallel discrimination and betrayal they face"--Publisher description.

It's the summer of 1969. We've just landed on the moon, the Vietnam War is heating up, the Mets are beginning their famous World Series run, and Woodstock is rocking upstate New York. Down in New Jersey, twelve-year-old Brody is mostly concerned with the top ten hits on the radio and how much playing time he'll get on the football team. But when he goes along for the ride to Woodstock with his older brother and sees the mass of humanity there, he starts to wake up to the world around him-a world that could take away the brother he loves.

An endearing, often outrageous blend of fable, tall tale, and page-turner, "The Watermelon King" returns to Ashland, Alabama--the fictional town immortalized in Daniel Wallace's enormously popular "Big Fish"-- the entire identity of which is based on the long-ago abundance of watermelons.

A delightful look at how nineteenth-century American artists portrayed children and childhood

When Grandpap teaches Charlie how to plant watermelon seeds in the spring, Charlie hopes they’ll grow a "Wishing Watermelon." Grandpap has never heard of such a thing, and when he asks Charlie what he would wish for, Charlie won't tell. Through a whole summer of biking, fishing, basketball, and waiting for watermelons together, Grandpap tries to guess his grandson's harvest wish. Lush, vivid paintings evoke the friendship, teamwork, and affection between grandfather and grandson as they share their wisdom and this special summer together.

First, a grocery store robbery occurs. Then, somebody steals Bill Collins's prize watermelon. There's thievery going on near Sugar Creek! And Bill is sure that the Till boys have something to do with it! Poetry and Bill start collecting clues. They find a map of Sugar Creek territory hidden in a floating watermelon and encounter strange happenings in the middle of the night. Join the Sugar Creek Gang as they learn not to jump to conclusions, for some things are not as they appear.

February the fifteenth is a very special day for me. It is the day I gave birth to my first child. It is also the day my husband left me...I can only assume the two events weren't entirely unrelated. Claire has everything she ever wanted: a husband she adores, a great apartment, a good job. Then, on the day she gives birth to their first baby, James informs her that he's leaving her. Claire is left with a newborn daughter, a broken heart, and a postpartum body that she can hardly bear to look at. She decides to go home to Dublin. And there, sheltered by the love of a quirky family, she gets better. So much so, in fact, that when James slithers back into her life, he's in for a bit of a surprise.