Books with author Stephen May

Is it possible? Can an ordinary human being really become a perfect person in three short days? Milo Crinkley thought so. What gave him the idea was a book that fell on his head one day at the library--a book with the impressive title Be a Perfect Person in Just Three Days! The author, Dr. K. Pinkerton Silverfish, did look kind of weird, but he claimed to be the world's leading authority on perfection. Milo took the book home and followed its instructions. He liked the idea of being perfect. Perfect people never had their parents nag at them. Perfect people never had to take the blame for rotten tricks their sisters played. Perfect people never needed erasers. Perfect was obviously the perfect thing to be! Did Milo become a perfect person in just three days? More important, can you? Do you think we're going to answer all your questions here when we want you to read this hilarious book?Winner of five kid-voted statewide awards! California Young Reader Medal Charlie May Simon Award (Arkansas) Georgia Children's Book Award Nene Award (Hawaii) Sunshine State Award (Florida)

From the author of Be a Perfect Person in Just Three Days!, here's the monstrously hilarious tale of a battle between brother and sister:Everybody thinks Irving's little sister is adorable. Everybody but Irving. To him, Claire is nothing but a little monster. He even calls her "Monstra."So Irving decides to teach her a lesson. With the help of a miraculous potion called "Monster-Ade," he'll turn himself into a monster--a real one--just long enough to scare Claire silly.But things don't quite work out the way he'd planned. And his parents begin to wonder: Just how do you handle a genuine monster in the family?

In this stylistic tour de force, Stephen Marche creates the entire culture of a place called Sanjania—its national symbols, political movements, folk heroes, a group of writers dubbed "fictioneers," a national airline called Sanjair, and a rich literary history. Sanjania is an island nation whose English-speaking citizens draw upon the English, American, Australian, and Canadian literary traditions. This brilliant story is an anthology, taking the reader from the rough and tumble pamphlets of 1870s Sanjania to the burgeoning Sanjanian nationalistic awareness in the 1930s literary journal, The Real Story, to the extraordinary longing of the writings of the Sanjanian Diaspora. These works develop into a Rashomon-like story, introducing us to illustrious Sanjanian figures such as the repentant prostitute Pigeon Blackhat and the magically talented couple Caesar and Endurance. The result is a vibrant evocation of a country— from the birth pangs of its first settlers and their hardy vernacular to is revolutionary years and all the way to the present—all told in Stephen Marche’s innovative and accomplished writing.

From the author of Be a Perfect Person in Just Three Days!: The hilarious saga of a summer at the world's worst weight-loss camp: Sam Zimmer's parents might as well have sent him to prison for the summer. Camp Thin-na-Yet is all about losing weight, and it's even worse than he'd imagined. Between "active rest," "swim 'n' trim," "slimnastics," and cabin brawls, there's hardly a minute to relax. The portion-controlled meals taste worse than the foil they come wrapped in, the low-cal bug juice is so repulsive even bugs won't go near it, and there are no second helpings of anything but water. The skinny counselors confiscate hidden candy hoards and keep their own food under lock and key. And the big treat at the Saturday night dance is unlimited celery sticks.Is there any way out? Sam can't seem to find one. Then he meets fellow sufferer Belinda Moss and helps her stage an ill-fated raid on one of the counselors' cabins. Belinda and Sam soon agree there's only one good way to deal with the penitentiary called Camp Thin-na-Yet: escape. But that's not as easy as it sounds.

From the author of Be a Perfect Person in Just Three Days!, here's the hilarious sequel to Hooples on the Highway: Alvin Hoople can't face Halloween without the annual haunted house in the neighbors' garage. But when that neighbor's steaming cauldron blows a hole in the wall of that garage two weeks before Halloween, it looks as though the haunted house just won't happen this year. Then Alvin has a brainstorm: They can have the haunted house in his garage. His parents aren't thrilled with the idea, but Alvin has made up his mind. Still, he hasn't counted on coming up against Mr. Goralski, the neighborhood grouch; spiteful Dwight, who wants to sabotage the plans; or a pesky little sister who won't disappear.Will Halloween turn into a real horror show? Alvin wonders if he can work it all out before his nerves unravel and he goes as mad as his ghouls and monsters!

Shining at the Bottom of the Sea is a vividly imagined anthology of Sanjania, a fictional country created by one of the most impressive voices in Canadian literature, Stephen Marche. The novel offers a rich and varied portrait of Sanjania and its way of life through a collection of stories—from pirate tales to social realist dramas, from folk parables to avantgarde experiments, from nineteenth-century prostitution “confessions” to postcolonial memoirs. Part satire, part commentary on literary nationalism, part acrobatic feat, Shining at the Bottom of the Sea is above all else an original and absorbing read. Its stories range from wickedly funny to heartbreakingly sad and will be enjoyed by all readers—even the ones who have never had a chance to visit Sanjania.