Books published by publisher iUniverse

African-American teen Louretta Hawkins discovers music and, through it, the worth of her black identity. She navigates an urban world of poverty, overcrowding, hostile police, and feuding gangs to emerge triumphant, secure in her talent and in the love of her family and friends. Winner of the Council on Interracial Books for children award as the year's best book for older children. "Packs a wallop Taut, fast-moving, absorbing, and believable, it probes with honest realism the problems of a wide range of unforgettable characters This powerful book deserves wide reading." -Book World

Teenage twins Lynx and Laurel Raven are on a mission. After being told by their grandmother that a family heirloom is missing, the twins head to their uncle’s house on the Gulf of Finland for a two-week stay, hoping to fi nd the valuable stone tablet that their uncle supposedly snatched from her house. But when their cousin’s eccentric tutor gives Laurel a strange book to read and their aunt reveals that their ancestors were shamans, their search takes on a new sense of urgency. The twins locate the tablet in their uncle’s offi ce and manage to solve an ancient Finnish puzzle—which activates dormant technology and transports Laurel to Nodyynia, a world at war. As she struggles to survive, Lynx sets off to fi nd her with the help of a Guardian shaman who is convinced Lynx is destined to destroy the Dark Shaman poised to awaken from a lengthy sleep stasis and seek revenge. In this spellbinding fantasy, as the Guardians prepare for an invasion, a portal begins to open; it is up to Lynx to do whatever it takes to fi nd his sister and stop an evil shaman before he destroys the universe.

Young women today are more stressed than many imagine. Society bombards the country's precious young women with unrealistic expectations of superficial beauty, body type, and hyper overachievement in all areas. These relentless messages begin at younger and younger ages and are harmful to their self-esteem and well-being. Far too many young women suffer from anxiety, depression, eating disorders, sleep issues, bullying, or lack of simple joy. They need help to grow strong with a powerful sense of self and self-love. In Grow Yourself Beautiful, author Sharon Caldwell Peddie offers a comforting guide to help young women shift focus from these harmful superficial expectations. It empowers them to grow in satisfying, meaningful ways that will bring them joy, inner strength, and true beauty. A mother who has raised three daughters, Peddie uses the letters in the word "beautiful" to deliver solid advice. She helps girls build a strong foundation and deep roots to become truly beautiful, resilient, loving, joyful, strong women who will make beautiful contributions of their choice and in their own perfect timing.

Twelve year old, Dani Roberson's life is as happy as it gets. Then a series of events lead her into a run-down mansion which once housed the stained glass she acquired. Whispers in the night, startle her awake. Visions of a dead boy summon her. She is haunted by two spirits. One apparition needs her help while the other is a demon wanting to exchange his soul for hers.

Eschewing sappiness in favor of sparse but vivid prose, McSherry documents his first few decades with four siblings, very little money, and two parents whose respective mental illnesses intensified as the years progress Although his story is certainly unique, McSherry's book has much to say about the nobility and struggle that characterize every individual life. A deeply affecting, surprisingly unsentimental description of surviving-and transcending-a tumultuous upbringing.-Kirkus Discoveries"To say McSherry has lived a 'hard knock' life is an understatement, but the Lehman High School teacher and Brio Award winner has crafted a Bronx version of Angela's Ashes that resonates with hope, wit, and perseverance."-Derek Woods, host of the television program, Bronx Magazine

The Dark Ages—a time of great turmoil and the collision of empires!As the Frank kingdom prepares for war, Roland, young heir to the Breton March, has been relegated to guard duty until a foreign emissary entrusts him with vital word of a new threat to the kingdom. Now Roland must embark on a risky journey to save all he loves from swift destruction.And yet while facing down merciless enemies, he must also reveal the hand of a murderer who even now stalks the halls of power and threatens to pull apart a kingdom reborn under the greatest of medieval kings, the remarkable Charlemagne.For Roland to become the champion his kingdom needs, he must survive war, intrigue and betrayal. The Silver Horn Echoes pays homage to "La Chanson de Roland" by revisiting an age of intrigue and honor, and a fateful decision in the shadows of a lonely mountain pass—Roncevaux!

These three, inter-related stories describe the lives of three generations of the McGowan family and their personal battles to make a living by working on the Boston waterfront. The common thread that runs through them is the challenges presented by the shape-up or pick-up system, a procedure that was archaic and rife with favoritism and was the sole determining factor whether you received a salary that day.At a young age, Jim McGowan goes to work as a longshoreman not knowing one end of a ship from the other. Fighting alcoholism, bad companions and family hardship, he strives to make a decent living for his family.Jim's uncle Owen is an immigrant from Ireland in 1920 who finds work on the docks, one of the few jobs available to him. Working alongside veteran longshoremen, he decides to become part of the political establishment in order to improve the working conditions on the docks. Owen's cousin Mike is a seasoned dock worker, content with his life but wanting something better for his children.The Longshoremen details the working conditions and challenges of working on the Boston waterfront and is based on the real-life experiences of longshoreman, author Jim Lynch.

Larz and Isabel Anderson were wealthy socialites whose extraordinary lives spanned a century of American historyfrom the Civil War to World War II. Their world included dozens of celebrities who helped define modern culture and politics: Henry and Clover Adams, Alice Pike Barney, Cecilia Beaux, Lord and Lady Curzon, Maud Howe Elliott, Henry James, Isabella Stewart Gardner, Robert Todd Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, John Singer Sargent, and William Howard Taft. In his dual biography based on six years of archival research, Stephen Moskey offers a fresh look into Americas Gilded Age while focusing not just on the lives of the Andersons, but also on the intersection of wealth, celebrity, politics, gender, and race as one century ended and another began. While leading others back in time, Moskey shines a light on Larzs professional achievements as well as Isabels emergence as an American woman of the early modern era whose words and deeds anticipated womens roles in culture and society today. Larz and Isabel Anderson shares the story of a glittering Gilded Age couple as they lived, worked, prospered, and gave back during a fascinating time in Americas history.

A very special young adult nature novel about the life and adventures in survival of a North Carolina king snake, from the time of his hatching until he becomes adult. The story shows the way he lives, how he catches and eats his prey (including other snakes, even poisonous ones), his value in the balance of nature and the fascinating events of his life, shedding new light and understanding about the lives of snakes, which, despite their value to man, are so often misunderstood and deliberately killed just because of what they are or what they are perceived to be.

: One of the great classics of modern Spanish literature. Sheer descriptive magic. Time An exquisite bookrich, shimmering, truly incomparable. The New Yorker This enchanting dialogue, or is it a monologue, between a man and his burro has been translated with great skill and sympathy. Winthrop Sargeant In this translated Spanish classic, Juan Ramón Jiménez tells his burro Platero about their native Andalusian village of Moguer. Their dialogue creates an evanescent portrait of provincial Spainits streets, homes, animals, children, and eccentrics. With the pure-hearted, silent burro sometimes a witness, sometimes a participant, the routines of daily life take on a certain poignancy. Jiménez anxiously searches for and removes the long green thorn from Plateros hoof, and the donkey tenderly nuzzles him. On their way home one evening, Platero brays to his girlfriend burro in a field and trots hesitatingly, unwillingly past. Together Platero and his master make friends with the parrot, belonging to a local French doctor, whose sole and frequent pronouncement is Ce nest rien. Both prolific and profound, Juan Ramón Jiménez (1881-1958) wrote over seventy books, winning the 1956 Nobel Prize in literature. He has been hailed by The New Republic as not only the dean of Hispanic poets, but a pioneer and the source of all those who wrote in the Spanish tongue after him. The translator, poet and scholar, Antonio de Nicolás, received his education in Spain, India and the United States. A prolific writer, he has contributed to learned journals, magazines and book reviews and has published a number of books.