Would Everybody Please Stop?

Author: Jenny Allen
Publisher: Macmillan + ORM
ISBN: 0374709505
Category : Humor
Languages : en
Pages : 201

Book Description
Thirty-five humorous essays exploring middle age, motherhood, marriage, divorce, cancer, and other potholes along the road of life. Finalist for the Thurber Prize for American Humor In Would Everybody Please Stop?, Jenny Allen asks the tough questions: Why do people say “It is what it is”? What’s the point of fat-free half-and-half? Why don’t the women detectives on TV carry purses, and where are we supposed to think they keep all their stuff? And haven’t we heard enough about memes? Reporting from the potholes midway through life’s journey, Allen addresses these and other more serious matters, like the rude awakenings of being single after twenty-five years, of mothering a teenager, and of living with a serious illness. She also discusses life’s everyday trials, like the horrors of attempting a crafts project, the anxieties of being a houseguest, and the ever-changing rules of recycling. Allen is a performer at heart—her one-woman show I Got Sick Then I Got Better premiered in 2009, and she regularly acts in other plays—and she brings that same spirit to these thirty-five short essays, which read like the work of a female Dave Barry. Writing on places both real (like a swag den for celebrities at Sundance and the parking lot at L.L.Bean’s flagship store) and imaginary (a Buddhist retreat attended by Martha Stewart, Elmer Fudd’s psychotherapy appointment), Allen’s wit and compassion give a fresh slant on life’s ups and downs.

Would Everybody Please Stop?

Author: Jenny Allen
Publisher: Sarah Crichton Books
ISBN: 0374118329
Category : Humor
Languages : en
Pages : 239

Book Description
"A collection of first-person essays and humor pieces about one woman's attempt to make sense of the baffling, humiliating, and extremely annoying world around her"--

Please Stop Laughing at Me

Author: Jodee Blanco
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1507217498
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 320

Book Description
"In this timely update of the seminal classic, author and activist Jodee Blanco reveals how she simply set out to share her story-and ended up igniting a grassroots movement in the nation's schools. The first survivor of school bullying to look back on those experiences as an adult, Jodee brings you up to speed on her life and work since the book's initial release with a new chapter, all-new Letter to My Readers, and Reader's Guide. She also offers the latest information on digital and cyberbullying, the Adult Survivor of Peer Abuse, her in-school antibullying program, INJJA (It's NOT Just Joking Around!), and provides discussion questions for schools. While other children were daydreaming about dances, first kisses, and college, Jodee Blanco was trying to figure out how to go from homeroom to study hall without being taunted or spit upon as she walked through the halls. This powerful, unforgettable memoir chronicles how one child was shunned-and even physically abused-by her classmates from elementary school through high school. It is an unflinching look at what it means to be the outcast, how even the most loving parents can get it all wrong, why schools are often unable to prevent disaster, and how bullying has been misunderstood and mishandled by the mental health community"--

I Got Sick Then I Got Better

Author: Jenny Allen
Publisher: Dramatists Play Service Inc
ISBN: 0822228033
Category : Drama
Languages : en
Pages : 41

Book Description
THE STORY: I GOT SICK THEN I GOT BETTER is a comic riff on one woman's adventures after falling down the medical rabbit hole. Diagnosed with and treated for ovarian cancer, Jenny tells her story of the harrowing tailspin she took following her diagnosis

Sometimes I Lie

Author: Alice Feeney
Publisher: Flatiron Books
ISBN: 1250144833
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 272

Book Description
ALICE FEENEYS NEW YORK TIMES AND INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER “Boldly plotted, tightly knotted—a provocative true-or-false thriller that deepens and darkens to its ink-black finale. Marvelous.” —AJ Finn, author of The Woman in the Window My name is Amber Reynolds. There are three things you should know about me: 1. I’m in a coma. 2. My husband doesn’t love me anymore. 3. Sometimes I lie. Amber wakes up in a hospital. She can’t move. She can’t speak. She can’t open her eyes. She can hear everyone around her, but they have no idea. Amber doesn’t remember what happened, but she has a suspicion her husband had something to do with it. Alternating between her paralyzed present, the week before her accident, and a series of childhood diaries from twenty years ago, this brilliant psychological thriller asks: Is something really a lie if you believe it's the truth?

Please Stop Helping Us

Author: Jason L. Riley
Publisher: Encounter Books
ISBN: 1594038422
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 215

Book Description
Why is it that so many efforts by liberals to lift the black underclass not only fail, but often harm the intended beneficiaries? In Please Stop Helping Us, Jason L. Riley examines how well-intentioned welfare programs are in fact holding black Americans back. Minimum-wage laws may lift earnings for people who are already employed, but they price a disproportionate number of blacks out of the labor force. Affirmative action in higher education is intended to address past discrimination, but the result is fewer black college graduates than would otherwise exist. And so it goes with everything from soft-on-crime laws, which make black neighborhoods more dangerous, to policies that limit school choice out of a mistaken belief that charter schools and voucher programs harm the traditional public schools that most low-income students attend. In theory these efforts are intended to help the poor—and poor minorities in particular. In practice they become massive barriers to moving forward. Please Stop Helping Us lays bare these counterproductive results. People of goodwill want to see more black socioeconomic advancement, but in too many instances the current methods and approaches aren’t working. Acknowledging this is an important first step.

The Story of Edgar Sawtelle

Author: David Wroblewski
Publisher: Bond Street Books
ISBN: 0307371891
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 578

Book Description
An Oprah's Book Club Pick A #1 New York Times Bestseller A National Bestseller Beautifully written and elegantly paced, The Story of Edgar Sawtelle is a coming-of-age novel about the power of the land and the past to shape our lives. It is a riveting tale of retribution, inhabited by empathic animals, prophetic dreams, second sight, and vengeful ghosts. Born mute, Edgar Sawtelle feels separate from the people around him but is able to establish profound bonds with the animals who share his home and his name: his family raises a fictional breed of exceptionally perceptive and affable dogs. Soon after his father's sudden death, Edgar is stunned to learn that his mother has already moved on as his uncle Claude quickly becomes part of their lives. Reeling from the sudden changes to his quiet existence, Edgar flees into the forests surrounding his Wisconsin home accompanied by three dogs. Soon he is caught in a struggle for survival—the only thing that will prepare him for his return home.

Everybody, Always

Author: Bob Goff
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
ISBN: 0718078179
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 241

Book Description
What if we stopped avoiding the difficult people in our lives and committed to simply loving everybody? What happens when we give away love like we're made of it? In Everybody, Always, Bob Goff's joyful New York Times bestselling follow-up to Love Does, you'll discover the secret to living without fear, constraint, or worry. Bob teaches us that the path toward the outsized, unfettered, liberated existence we all long for is found in one simple truth: love people, even the difficult ones, without distinction and without limits. In Everybody, Always, Bob shows us the simple truths about life that have the power to shift our mindset forever: Jesus uses our blind spots to reveal himself to us It's easy to love kind, lovely, humble people, but you have to tackle fear in order to love people who are difficult What we do with our love will become the conversations we have with God Dark and scary places are filled with beautiful people who need our unconditional love Extravagant love has extraordinary power to change lives, including our own Driven by Bob's trademark storytelling, this book reveals the wisdom Bob learned--often the hard way--about what it means to love without inhibition, insecurity, or restriction. From finding the right friends to discovering the upside of failure, Everybody, Always points the way to embodying love by doing the unexpected, the intimidating, the seemingly impossible. Whether losing his shoes while skydiving solo or befriending a Ugandan witch doctor, Bob steps into life with a no-limits embrace of others that is as infectious as it is extraordinarily ordinary. Everybody, Always reveals how we can do the same.

Bullied Kids Speak Out

Author: Jodee Blanco
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1440579547
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 208

Book Description
True stories from New York Times bestselling author Jodee Blanco's tours Have you ever felt alone, as if no one understands what you're going through, and that no matter how hard you try, you're scared things may never get better? Do you wish your classmates would give you a break? I felt that way often in school. I was bullied and excluded for the same reason maybe you or someone you know has been--simply for being different. There were days when all I wanted was to stay in my room. Back then, I would have given almost anything to meet the kids you're going to meet here. Autumn dreaded recess. Joshua was afraid to trust anyone at home or at school. Taylor had lots of friends until her BFF turned them all against her. Gabe's online gaming world was turned upside down when other players started humiliating him. A teacher was bullying Brianna. Eric's Asperger's made him the butt of cruel jokes. The cool crowd beat up Tiffany and videotaped it for YouTube. Zach got punched and stomped on because of his weight. Trinity felt invisible. Aamina was harassed because of her family's religious beliefs. Riley had to live with the soul-crushing weight of mental illness as well as the other students who jeered at her plight. These are some of the brave teens who will be talking to you in this book. They--and others they inspired--found the courage to stand up to their bullies and reclaim their lives, and you'll hear exactly how they did it. You're not alone anymore.

What If Everybody Said That?

Author: Ellen Javernick
Publisher: Two Lions
ISBN: 9781503948952
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 24

Book Description
What if everybody chose to be kind? If you tell someone that they can't play with you, there's no harm done, right? But what if everybody said that? What if everybody forgot to be kind...and made fun of other kids' artwork at school, or told a fib, or refused to share with a person in need? The world wouldn't be a very nice place to live. But what if everybody thought before they spoke, so the world would be a kinder place? With clear prose and lighthearted artwork, this companion book to the bestseller What If Everybody Did That? explores the power of words and shows kids that the things we say matter.