Presents the story of a spirited and gifted, but poor, black girl growing up in the South in the 1930's. Tells how she came into her own, experiencing prejudice, family difficulties, and a relationship with a teacher who taught her to respect books, learning, and herself.

A young Negro boy learns the pain of humiliation and anger when his father is given an unjust jail sentence for stealing a ham from a white man. Learning to read and to discover that things do not die but become part of other things brings the youngster new hope.

In twelve months between 2007 and 2008, Christopher Buckley coped with the passing of his father, William F. Buckley, the father of the modern conservative movement, and his mother, Patricia Taylor Buckley, one of New York's most glamorous and colorful socialites. He was their only child and their relationship was close and complicated. Writes Buckley: "They were not - with respect to every other set of loving, wonderful parents in the world - your...

When he finds a lost beagle in the hills behind his West Virginia home, Marty tries to hide it from his family and the dog's real owner, a mean-spirited man known to shoot deer out of season and to mistreat his dogs.

Bailey Flanigan and Cody Coleman are not only separated by physical distance, they are also faced with great emotional distance. Bailey grows closer to her dream to be an actress and dancer in New York, while Cody coaches a small high school football team. But neither feels complete without the chance to share their dreams with one another. Can distance truly make the heart grow fonder? Both Bailey and Cody learn significant life lessons in this poignant...

The author of three beloved books about her life in Italy, Frances Mayes revisits the turning points that defined her early years in Fitzgerald, Georgia. With her signature style and grace, Mayes explores the power of landscape, the idea of home, and the lasting force of a chaotic and loving family. Under Magnolia is an honest, humorous, and thoughtful meditation on the ways that family and place define us, or cause us to define ourselves.

Winnie relates the events of her twelfth year and the many changes in her relationships and in her attitude toward growing up.

Recounts the author's life-long obsession with Graham Greene's writings on the experiences of being an outsider, which informed both the author's travels and his private explorations of his relationship with his elusive father.