Books with author Michael Courtney

This book tackles an increasingly crucial question: What can we do about the seemingly intractable challenges confronting all of humanity today, including climate change, global hunger, water scarcity, environmental stress, and economic instability? The quick answers are: Build topsoil. Fix creeks. Eat meat from pasture-raised animals. Scientists maintain that a mere 2 percent increase in the carbon content of the planet’s soils could offset 100 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions going into the atmosphere. But how could this be accomplished? What would it cost? Is it even possible? Yes, says author Courtney White, it is not only possible, but essential for the long-term health and sustainability of our environment and our economy. Right now, the only possibility of large-scale removal of greenhouse gases from the atmosphere is through plant photosynthesis and related land-based carbon sequestration activities. These include a range of already existing, low-tech, and proven practices: composting, no-till farming, climate-friendly livestock practices, conserving natural habitat, restoring degraded watersheds and rangelands, increasing biodiversity, and producing local food. In Grass, Soil, Hope, the author shows how all these practical strategies can be bundled together into an economic and ecological whole, with the aim of reducing atmospheric CO2 while producing substantial co-benefits for all living things. Soil is a huge natural sink for carbon dioxide. If we can draw increasing amounts carbon out of the atmosphere and store it safely in the soil then we can significantly address all the multiple challenges that now appear so intractable.

When Kat Stafford loses her father and mother walks out on her and her brothers, she finds herself in trouble with the law. Luckily, her oldest brother Steve, comes home to take care of them. But when she starts High School and the richest and cutest boy is interested in dating her Kat's brothers and their friends don't make it easy.(YA version and Book 1 of the abridged book The Garden City Rules)

When Kat Stafford’s father dies and mother walks out on her and her brothers, Kat finds herself in trouble. Luckily, her oldest brother Steve, comes home to take care of them. But when she starts High School and the richest and cutest boy is interested in dating her. Kat’s brothers and their friends don’t make it easy.(Book 1 of the abridged book The Garden City Rules)

The Great Monroe High School Fire is based upon events surrounding the unsolved arson fire that did major damage to James Monroe High School in the South Bronx over thirty years ago. The characters are inspired by the young people who lived and survived in that era of gangs, drugs, and a failing educational system. The narrator, Joey Sanchez, lives astride the worlds of his Italian mother and his absent Puerto Rican father and is influenced by the very different people in his life. There is his impoverished mother whom he cannot bear to disappoint. And there is his closest friend Sapo who joins him in a frenzy of graffiti writing while they are still at Junior High 22, and who later leads him to deal marijuana to students at Fordham University.Joey differs from his peers not only in his mixed ancestry but in his inability to accept the limitations of life in the Bronx. Beginning with a box of old books brought home by his mother, he seeks to understand a larger world through reading and through people he sees as possessing the knowledge he lacks. There is Siobhan, the college student who seems to love him and the eccentric English teacher, Miss Bonsecour, whose friendship with the boy brings unwanted attention to them both.The events of the story occur as much of the South Bronx was being consumed by fires whose origin has never been fully explained, a time just before the crack and AIDS epidemics swept away so many lives. It was, in Joey Sanchez' words, a time when books were burned and the Dark Ages returned.

Bree Coleman wants nothing more than to get away from her small town and to eventually play soccer in the Olympics, but her mother and her mother’s boyfriend believe there is no time for sports. They want her to focus on chores and babysitting her half-sister, Riley. When life unexpectedly changes, Bree finds support for her lofty aspirations in her Aunt Monica and Uncle Mark. There’s just one problem. Bree is in middle school and has never played soccer. Will her hard work, determination, and breathtaking running speed be enough to make her dreams come true? Bree dives into learning the game with unparalleled passion. In the end, it will come down to one question. Does she believe in herself?

When Kat Stafford loses her father and mother walks out on her and her brothers, she finds herself in serious trouble, thanks to her middle brother's partying. Luckily, her oldest brother Steve, returns home to take control. But when she starts High School and the richest and cutest boy in school wants to date Kat, her brothers and their friends don't make it easy.

A young man coming of age on a planet with a binary star deals with his own family issues, and in the process, confronts his race's fear of the cold and discovers the myth about the mysterious Lorin-creatures who share their world. Unbeknownst to all, their planet is about to be drawn into the orbit of Rax - where the long-dreaded freeze will begin. But when the planets two warring governments discover this impending threat and employ it to their own sinister advantage, young Drove retreats with his mother and father to the coastal city of Pallahaxi - where he learns the truth about his relationship with his father, the secret of the intuitive Lorin-creatures, and begins to understand his planet's peculiar destiny.

The Great Monroe High School Fire is based upon events surrounding the unsolved arson fire that did major damage to James Monroe High School in the South Bronx over thirty years ago. The characters are inspired by the young people who survived that era of gangs, drugs, and a failing educational system. The narrator, Joey Sanchez, lives astride the worlds of his Italian mother and his absent Puerto Rican father and is influenced by the very different people in his life. His impoverished mother is the one person whom he cannot bear to disappoint. His closest friend Sapo joins him in a frenzy of graffiti writing while they are still at Junior High 22, and later nearly gets both of them killed in a drug deal gone wrong. Joey differs from his peers not only in his mixed ancestry but in his inability to accept the limitations of life in the Bronx. Beginning with a box of old books brought home by his mother, he seeks to understand a larger world through reading and through people he sees as possessing the knowledge that he lacks. There is Siobhan, the Fordham student who uses him for her own purposes, and the eccentric English teacher, Miss Bonsecour, whose friendship with the boy brings unwanted attention to them both. The events of the story unfold as much of the South Bronx was being consumed by fires whose origin has never been fully explained, a time just before the crack and AIDS epidemics swept away so many lives. It was, in Joey Sanchez' words, a time when books were burned and the Dark Ages returned.

Bree Coleman wants nothing more than to get away from her small town and to eventually play soccer in the Olympics, but her mother and her mother’s boyfriend believe there is no time for sports. They want her to focus on chores and babysitting her half-sister, Riley. When life unexpectedly changes, Bree finds support for her lofty aspirations in her Aunt Monica and Uncle Mark. There’s just one problem. Bree is in middle school and has never played soccer. Will her hard work, determination, and breathtaking running speed be enough to make her dreams come true? Bree dives into learning the game with unparalleled passion. In the end, it will come down to one question. Does she believe in herself?