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For years, rumors of the “Marsh Girl” have haunted Barkley Cove, a quiet town on the North Carolina coast. So in late 1969, when handsome Chase Andrews is found dead, the locals immediately suspect Kya Clark, the so-called Marsh Girl. But Kya is not what they say. Sensitive and intelligent, she has survived for years alone in the marsh that she calls home, finding friends in the gulls and lessons in the sand. Then the time comes when she yearns to be touched and loved. When two young men from town become intrigued by her wild beauty, Kya opens herself to a new life—until the unthinkable happens. Where the Crawdads Sing is at once an exquisite ode to the natural world, a heartbreaking coming-of-age story, and a surprising tale of possible murder. Owens reminds us that we are forever shaped by the children we once were, and that we are all subject to the beautiful and violent secrets that nature keeps.

Celie, a poor African-American girl, lives in rural Georgia in the early 1900s. She writes letters to God because her father Alphonso beats and rapes her. Due to the rape, she gives birth to two children, Olivia and Adam, whom Alphonso takes away. A farmer identified as "Mister" (Mr. __) asks to marry her younger sister Nettie, but Alphonso offers him Celie instead. Celie is abused by Mister and mistreated by his prior children. Nettie runs away and stays with Celie, but Mister eventually makes her leave after she refuses his unwanted sexual advances. Nettie promises to write, but Celie never receives any letters, and Celie concludes that she is dead.

Eleven-year-old Charlie Bucket lives in poverty with his parents and grandparents in a town that is home to a world-famous chocolate factory. One day, Charlie's bedridden Grandpa Joe tells him about Willy Wonka, the factory's eccentric owner, and all of his fantastical candies. Rival chocolatiers sent in spies to steal his recipes, forcing Wonka to close the factory and disappear. He reopened years later, but the gates remain locked, and nobody knows who is providing the factory with its workforce. The next day, the newspaper announces that Wonka has hidden five Golden Tickets in Wonka Bars; the finders of these tickets will be invited to come and tour the factory. The first four tickets are found by gluttonous Augustus Gloop, spoiled Veruca Salt, gum-chewing Violet Beauregarde, and television addict Mike Teavee. One day, Charlie buys a Wonka Bar with some money he found in the snow; the bar contains the fifth and final ticket. Upon hearing the news, Grandpa Joe regains his mobility and volunteers to accompany Charlie to the factory.

A magnetic novel about two families, strangers to each other, who are forced together on a long weekend gone wrong Amanda and Clay head to a remote corner of Long Island expecting a quiet reprieve from life in New York City, quality time with their teenage son and daughter, and a taste of the good life in the luxurious home they've rented for the week. But with a late-night knock on the door, the spell is broken. Ruth and G. H., an older couple who claim to own the home, have arrived there in a panic. These strangers say that a sudden power outage has swept the city, and - with nowhere else to turn - they have come to the country in search of shelter. But with the TV and internet down, and no phone service, the facts are unknowable. Should Amanda and Clay trust this couple - and vice versa? What has happened back in New York? Is the holiday home, isolated from civilization, a truly safe place for their families? And are they safe from one another?

Horton Hears a Who is a children's book written and illustrated by Theodor Seuss Geisel under the pen name Dr. Seuss. It was published in 1954Elephant Horton finds a speck of dust floating in the Jungle of Nool. Upon investigation of the speck, Horton discovers the tiny city of Who-ville and its residents, the Whos, which he can hear but cannot see. Horton forms a friendship with the mayor of Who-ville, Ned McDodd, and promises to transport Who-ville to safety. However, Horton encounters opposition from his jungle neighbors, who don't want to believe in the existence of Who-ville.

Kindred (1979) is a novel by American writer Octavia E. Butler that incorporates time travel and is modeled on slave narratives. The book is the first-person account of a young African-American writer, Dana, who is repeatedly transported in time between her Los Angeles, California home in 1976 with her white husband and an early 19th-century Maryland plantation just outside Easton. There, she meets some of her ancestors: a proud, free Black woman and a white planter who forces her into slavery and concubinage. As Dana stays for more extended periods in the past, she becomes intimately entangled with the plantation community. Dana makes hard choices to survive slavery and to ensure her return to her own time.

On her 30th birthday, Andrea Oliver celebrates the occasion at a local diner with her mother, Laura. Moments later, she witnesses the unthinkable on a day that would forever change her life. After her mother attempts to stop a shooter from killing more victims, Andrea notices that Laura has flipped the script and watches her violently dispose of the threat. Visibly shaken, Andrea is left with wavering thoughts and conflicted feelings about her mother's actions. Soon after, video footage of the incident at the diner becomes a viral hit, exposing Laura's identity to her past enemies. As Andrea begins to gather the pieces of Laura's past on her journey to uncover the real identity that her mother has forsaken long ago, what other truths will she find?

Always and Forever, Lara Jean is a 2017 novel by American author Jenny Han. It is the third and final installment of the To All the Boys I've Loved Before series. Now in her final year of high school, Lara Jean Song Covey is excitedly looking forward to attending school with her boyfriend, Peter Kavinsky, at the University of Virginia (UVA). Peter has been accepted early on a sports scholarship for lacrosse. When acceptance letters come in, Lara Jean learns she has been rejected. After being wait-listed to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC), Lara Jean decided to go with William and Mary with the plan of transferring to UVA after freshman year. However, Lara Jean is eventually accepted to UNC at Chapel Hill in her last week of school and decides to attend school there.

"P.S. I Still Love You" is a heartwarming continuation of the To All the Boys I've Loved Before series, which delves deeper into the life of Lara Jean Covey as she navigates the complexities of her first real relationship with Peter Kavinsky. The book excels in portraying the emotional turmoil and growth of the characters, giving readers an intimate glimpse into Lara Jean's thoughts and feelings.

Meet Ove. He’s a curmudgeon—the kind of man who points at people he dislikes as if they were burglars caught outside his bedroom window. He has staunch principles, strict routines, and a short fuse. People call him “the bitter neighbor from hell.” But must Ove be bitter just because he doesn’t always walk around with a smile plastered to his face? Behind the cranky exterior, there is a story and a sadness. So when one November morning, a chatty young couple with two chatty young daughters move in next door and accidentally flatten Ove’s mailbox, it is the lead-in to a comical and heartwarming tale of unkempt cats, unexpected friendship, and the ancient art of backing up a U-Haul. All of which will change one cranky old man and a local residents’ association to their very foundations.

The Little Mermaid is a literary fairy tale by Danish author Hans Christian Andersen. It was first published in 1837 as part of a collection of fairy tales for children. The story follows the journey of a young mermaid willing to give up her life in the sea as a mermaid to gain a human soul. The Little Mermaid lives in an underwater kingdom with her widowed father (The Sea King), her dowager grandmother, and her five older sisters, born one year apart.

At 28, Stephanie Land's dreams of attending a university and becoming a writer quickly dissolved when a summer fling turned into an unplanned pregnancy. Before long, she found herself a single mother before long, scraping by as a housekeeper to make ends meet. Maid is an emotionally raw, masterful account of Stephanie's years spent serving upper-middle-class America as a "nameless ghost" who quietly shared in her clients' triumphs, tragedies, and deepest secrets. Driven to carve out a better life for her family, she cleaned by day and took online classes by night, writing relentlessly as she worked toward earning a college degree. She wrote of the true stories that weren't being told: of living on food stamps and WIC coupons, of government programs that barely provided housing, of aloof government employees who shamed her for receiving what little assistance she did. Above all else, she wrote about pursuing the myth of the American dream from the poverty line while slashing through deep-rooted stigmas of the working poor.

In 1814, after years as one of the most notorious rakes of the Anthony, Viscount Bridgerton decides to settle down and carry on the family line. Haunted by his father's death at a young age from a bee sting, Anthony now believes, albeit irrationally, that he will die young, too and does not want the complication of falling in love.

A Wrinkle in Time is a young adult science fantasy novel by American author Madeleine L'Engle. The main characters – Meg Murry, Charles Wallace Murry, and Calvin O'Keefe – embark on a journey through space and time, from galaxy to galaxy, as they endeavor to rescue the Murry's' father and fight back The Black Thing that has intruded into several worlds. The novel offers a glimpse into the war between light and darkness and good and evil as the young characters mature into adolescents on their journey.

Black Swan meets Pretty Little Liars in this drama-packed debut about three perfect girls who will do anything to be the prima ballerina at their elite New York ballet school. Now a major Netflix series! Being a dancer at New York’s most elite ballet school isn’t easy. Everyone wants to be the prima ballerina, and sometimes you must play dirty. With the competition growing fiercer with every performance and harmless pranks growing ever darker, Bette, June, and Gigi find themselves battling it out to stay at the top. And it’s only a matter of time before one small spark ignites... and even the best get burned...

Born and raised in the suburbs of Washington, D.C., Dhonielle spent much of her childhood hiding beneath her grandmother's dining table with a stack of books. As an English teacher at a ballet academy, Clayton rediscovered her passion for children's and young adult literature. To ground herself in the canon, she pursued her Masters in Children's Literature from Hollins University before receiving her MFA in Writing for Children at the New School. She is a former middle school librarian, where she pestered children to read and curated a diverse collection. An avid traveler, Dhonielle's lived in several foreign countries, but she's now settled in Harlem, where you'll find her writing late into the night, lurking in libraries, and hunting for the best slice of New York pizza. She is the COO of We Need Diverse Books and the co-founder of Cake Literary. The co-author of the dance dramas Tiny Pretty Things and Shiny Broken Pieces, as well as the upcoming Rumor Game, Dhonielle is the author of the New York Times bestselling YA fantasy series The Belles. In our next episode, we will review Dhonielle book Tiny Pretty Things

Convinced they'd be better off raising themselves, the Willoughby children hatch a sneaky plan to send their selfish parents on vacation. The siblings then embark on their own high-flying adventure to find the true meaning of family.

Set primarily in the Harlem neighborhood of New York City in the 1920s, the story centers on the reunion of two childhood friends—Clare Kendry and Irene Redfield—and their increasing fascination with each other's lives. The title refers to the practice of "racial passing" and is a key element of the novel. Clare Kendry's attempt to pass as white for her husband, John (Jack) Bellew, is a significant depiction in the novel and a catalyst for the tragic events.

Nine people from different walks of life attend a pricey 10-day "Mind and Body Total Transformation Retreat" at a place called the Tranquillum House run by a mysterious Russian woman named Masha. Throughout the course of their retreat, they realize that each of them is battling their own demons and all of them are subjects of an experiment.

Thirteen Reasons Why is a young adult novel written by Jay Asher in 2007 that follows the story of Hannah Baker, a high school freshman, and the thirteen reasons why she commits suicide. Following her death, Hannah leaves behind 7 double-sided cassette tapes detailing the 13 specific people and events that she blames for her demise. Two weeks after her death, these cassette tapes are mailed out with directions to pass the tapes on to the next person on the tape. Hannah's life story is conveyed through these tapes, which are narrated by Hannah herself, and through the point of view of Clay, her classmate and the ninth person to receive the tapes. The inspiration behind the main character, Hannah Baker, comes from author Jay Asher's close relative who attempted suicide. Since the novel's publication in 2007, Thirteen Reasons Why has received much recognition. As of 2014 Thirteen Reasons Why had been a New York Times bestseller for over 3 years and published in multiple countries. The novel's success has also been met with backlash, becoming the third-most banned book in the United States between 2010 and 2019. Additionally, in March 2017 a Netflix original series was released based on the book.