Books published by publisher Persea Books

In this anthology of fifteen, nearly all original, contemporary short stories, teenagers go to work, many of them for the first time. They take jobs to earn pocket money or to help their families get by. Some have a goal, like college; others use work to try on an identity or as a step toward independence. They work in fast food restaurants, sell subscriptions by telephone, do odd jobs, clerk, tutor, harvest crops, and more ... in every instance, working brings them the unexpected. Whether the job is exciting or dull, something to avoid later on or a discovered vocation, these stories lead us - and their young protagonists - to realize that work is what we do, who we are, and an important connection to others. It helps us not only to survive but also to dream of new horizons.

Things weren't so peachy in Cathy's life before she and her boyfriend Victor broke up. Her father died unexpectedly, she's failing school, and her best friend Emma is mad at her. But when Cathy decides to investigate Victor's reasons for ending their relationship, things suddenly go from bad to very, very, very bad as her findings produce more questions than answers.Through Cathy's unique and irresistible voice, listeners will enter a strange and fascinating world where things often aren't how they appear.

We first met Cathy Vickers in Cathy's Book and followed her mis-adventures in the sequel Cathy's Key - Now in Cathy's Ring, the final installment in the Cathy Vickers Trilogy, Cathy cannot manage to find more than a few days to relax in her hectic (and mortal) life - she barely has time to put the mystery surrounding her father to rest before she finds herself targeted by a group of Ancestor Lu's professional killers! Recognizing she is a serious threat to everyone in her life, Cathy makes plans to leave town. But her friends, Emma, Pete, Victor, and, surprisingly, Jun, unite to convince Cathy that they must finish Lu once and for all to have any chance at peace - mortal or immortal. In order to defeat Lu, the friends must come together in a way they never have before. Meanwhile - unbeknownst to Cathy - Victor has made the ultimate sacrifice hoping it will bring him closer to a normal relationship with Cathy. But when Victor is seriously wounded and Cathy finds herself attracted to another mortal with similar feelings for her, Cathy's world turns upside down and she is forced to make a decision about her future with Victor, while his life hangs by a thread. What will Cathy decide, and how will their epic battle with Lu play out?

These classic contemporary tales written by some of the world's best writers have the power to transport you to other countries. You'll discover what it's like to live in another culture and you'll meet kindred spirits on their own journeys to adulthood. In Ama Ata Aidoo's "The Late Bud, " it takes the collective wisdom of a Ghanan village to reconcile headstrong Yaaba with her mother. A young Chilean boy outwits a representative of the military regime by writing an essay that disguises his parents' true political beliefs in "The Composition" by Antonio Skarmeta. Valentin Rasputin's "French Lessons" takes place during the difficult times following the Second World War and portrays a fifth-grade Russian boy who staves off hunger through gamesmanship and the help of a special teacher who respects his sense of pride. And in "The Child Who Loved Roads, " Norwegian author Cora Sandel's young protagonist almost abandons "her" road in order to travel on the pathway to adulthood, but instead decides to wait a little longer.

Getting a new haircut. Surviving clothes shopping with Mom. Losing a beloved uncle to AIDS. Hearing the band Nirvana for the first time. These are just a few of the experiences that inspired this book's young authors to sit down and write. In thirty-five frank and intimate personal essays, they express their views on serious issues like violence, racism, and teen parenting, as well as common teen experiences like dating, getting first job, and starting college. Their stories resonate with their desire to discover who they are, through the written word, and to share their discoveries with their peers.

This inspiring story of Jessie De La Cruz, the United Farmer Workers, and la Causa is told as only Gary Soto-novelist, essayist, poet, and himself a field laborer during his teens-can tell it, with respect, empathy, and deep compassion for the working poor. A field worker from the age of five, Jessie knew poverty, harsh working conditions, and the exploitation of Mexicans and all poor people. Her response was to take a stand. She joined the fledgling United Farm Workers union and, at Cesar Chavez's request, became its first woman recruiter. She also participated in strikes, helped ban the crippling short-handle hoe, became a delegate to the Democratic National Convention, testified before the Senate, and met with the Pope. Jessie's life story personalizes an historical movement and shows teens how an ordinary woman became extraordinary through her will to make change happen, not just for herself but for others.

‘When I picked up Little Boy Lost I offered it the tenderly indulgent regard I would any period piece,’ wrote Nicholas Lezard in the Guardian. ‘As it turned out, the book survives perfectly well on its own merits – although it nearly finished me. If you like a novel that expertly puts you through the wringer, this is the one. Hilary Wainwright, poet and intellectual, returns after the war to a blasted and impoverished France in order to trace a child lost five years before. The novel asks: is the child really his? And does he want him? These are questions you can take to be as metaphorical as you wish: the novel works perfectly well as straight narrative. It’s extraordinarily gripping: it has the page-turning compulsion of a thriller while at the same time being written with perfect clarity and precision. Had it not got so nerve-wracking towards the end, I would have read it in one go. But Laski’s understated assurance and grip is almost astonishing. She has got a certain kind of British intellectual down to a tee: part of the book’s nail-biting tension comes from our fear that Hilary won’t do something stupid. The rest of Little Boy Lost’s power comes from the depiction of post-war France herself. This is haunting stuff.’

Famous, fascinating Benjamin Franklin-he would be neither without his accomplishments in science. In this authoritative intellectual biography of America's most brilliant and cosmopolitan Founding Father, Joyce Chaplin considers Franklin's scientific work as a career in its own right as well as the basis of his political thought. The famous kite and other experiments with electricity were only part of Franklin's accomplishments. He charted the Gulf Stream, made important observations in meteorology, and used the burgeoning science of "political arithmetic" to make unprecedented statements about America's power. Even as he stepped onto the world stage as an illustrious statesman and diplomat in the years leading up to the American Revolution, his fascination with nature was unrelenting.

It is 1901. Marisia and her family flee Poland ahead of the czar's soldiers. But at Ellis Island, her sister and parents are turned away. Now Marisia and her brother, Stefan, must find their way in the New World alone. Marisia dreams of becoming an artist. Can she overcome the hardships of immigrant life on New York's Lower East Side, the struggle to find work, and the tyrannical views of those who would stand in her way? With only her wits, her talent, and her feisty spirit to guide her, she sets out to turn dream into reality.

“When I picked up this 1949 reprint I offered it the tenderly indulgent regard I would any period piece. As it turned out, the book survives perfectly well on its own merit—although it nearly finished me. If you like a novel that expertly puts you through the wringer, this is the one.”—Nicholas Lezard, GuardianHilary Wainwright, an English soldier, returns to a blasted and impoverished France during World War Two in order to trace a child lost five years before. But is this small, quiet boy in a grim orphanage really his son? And what if he is not? In this exquisitely crafted novel, we follow Hilary’s struggle to love in the midst of a devastating war.Facing him was a thin little boy in a black sateen overall. Its sleeves were too short and from them dangled red swollen hands too big for the frail wrists. Hilary looked from these painful hands to the little boy’s long thin grubby legs, to the crude coarse socks falling over shabby black boots that were surely several sizes too large. It’s a foreign child, he thought numbly . . .Marghanita Laski was born in 1915 to a family of Jewish intellectuals in Manchester; Harold Laski, the socialist thinker, was her uncle. She was the author of six novels and a celebrated critic. She died in 1988.