Biographies & Memoirs
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Brave Girl: Clara and the Shirtwaist Makers' Strike of 1909
Author/Actors/Director/etc.: Melissa Sweet
Format: Hardcover
Publisher: Balzer + Bray (2013, Jan 22nd).
Pages: 32
When Clara Lemlich arrived in America, she couldn't speak English. She didn't know that young women had to go to work, that they traded an education for long hours of labor, that she was expected to grow up fast.But that did not stop Clara.She went to night school, spent hours studying English, and helped support her family by sewing in a factory.Clara never quit. And she never accepted that girls should be treated poorly and paid little.So Clara fought back. Fed up with the mistreatment of her fellow laborers, Clara led the largest walkout of women workers in the country's history.Clara had learned a lot from her short time in America. She learned that everyone deserved a fair chance. That you had to stand together and fight for what you wanted. more
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Look Up!: Henrietta Leavitt, Pioneering Woman Astronomer
Author/Actors/Director/etc.: Robert Burleigh
Format: Hardcover
Publisher: Simon & Schuster/Paula Wiseman Books (2013, Feb 19th).
Pages: 32
Henrietta Levitt was the first person to discover the scientific importance of a star’s brightness—so why has no one heard of her? Learn all about a female pioneer of astronomy in this picture book biography.Henrietta Swan Leavitt was born on July 4, 1868, and she changed the course of astronomy when she was just twenty-five years old. Henrietta spent years measuring star positions and sizes from photographs taken by the telescope at the Harvard College Observatory, where she worked. After Henrietta observed that certain stars had a fixed pattern to their changes, her discovery made it possible for astronomers to measure greater and greater distances—leading to our present understanding of the vast size of the universe. An astronomer of her time called Henrietta Leavitt “one of the most important women ever to touch astronomy,” and another close associate said she had the “best mind at the Harvard Observatory. more
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The Duck Commander Family: How Faith, Family, and Ducks Built a Dynasty
Author/Actors/Director/etc.: Mark Schlabach
Format: Hardcover
Publisher: Howard Books (2012, Oct 9th).
Pages: 272
Faith. Family. Ducks—in that order. This book gives readers an up-close and personal, behind-the-scenes look at the family in the exploding A&E show—Duck Dynasty. This Louisiana bayou family operates Duck Commander, a booming family business that has made them millions. You’ll hear all about the Robertson clan from Willie and what it was like growing up in the Robertson household. You’ll sample some of Willie’s favorite family recipes from Phil, Kay, and even some of his own concoctions; and you’ll get to know the beautiful Robertson women. You’ll hear from Korie about the joys and hardships of raising a family, running a business, and wrangling the Robertson men while staying fashionable and beautiful inside and out. more
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The Chappy Ferry Book: Back and Forth Between Two Worlds, 527 Feet Apart
Author/Actors/Director/etc.: Tom Dunlop
Format: Paperback
Publisher: Vineyard Stories; Pap/DVD edition (2012, Jul 1st).
Pages: 128
This is the delightful, fact-filled history of one of the shortest, oldest, and most unusual ferries in the country the Chappa- quiddick ferry on Martha s Vineyard. It includes stories about the blind man who skippered it for nearly forty years, the seaplane that struck it in 1937, and the roles it played in the filming of the movie Jaws. The book includes a centerfold illustration showing how the ferry works and The Chappy Ferry Movie hosted by Dick Ebersol, former chairman of NBC Sports, and produced by John Wilson, who has had a twenty-year career in sports television and who has loved the ferry all his life. The story of the Chappaquiddick ferry, which travels only 527 feet between two islands, is a history that is nestled into the lifeblood of Martha s Vineyard as vital as the whaling era that left behind Edgartown s beautiful captain s houses. more
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Salt Sugar Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us
Author/Actors/Director/etc.: Michael Moss
Format: Hardcover
Publisher: Random House (2013, Mar 12th).
Pages: 480
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLERFrom a Pulitzer Prize–winning investigative reporter at The New York Times comes the explosive story of the rise of the processed food industry and its link to the emerging obesity epidemic. Michael Moss reveals how companies use salt, sugar, and fat to addict us and, more important, how we can fight back. In the spring of 1999 the heads of the world’s largest processed food companies—from Coca-Cola to Nabisco—gathered at Pillsbury headquarters in Minneapolis for a secret meeting. On the agenda: the emerging epidemic of obesity, and what to do about it. Increasingly, the salt-, sugar-, and fat-laden foods these companies produced were being linked to obesity, and a concerned Kraft executive took the stage to issue a warning: There would be a day of reckoning unless changes were made. more
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Sum It Up: 1,098 Victories, A Couple of Irrelevant Losses, and a Life in Perspective
Author/Actors/Director/etc.: Pat Head Summitt
Format: Hardcover
Publisher: Crown Archetype (2013, Mar 5th).
Pages: 256
Pat Summitt, the all-time winningest coach in NCAA basketball history and bestselling author of Reach for the Summitt and Raise The Roof, tells for the first time her remarkable story of victory and resilience as well as facing down her greatest challenge: early-onset Alzheimer's disease.Pat Summitt was only 21 when she became head coach of the Tennessee Vols women's basketball team. For 38 years, she has broken records, winning more games than any NCAA team in basketball history. She has coached an undefeated season, co-captained the first women's Olympic team, was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame, and has been named Sports Illustrated 'Sportswoman of the Year'.She owes her coaching success to her personal struggles and triumphs. She learned to be tough from her strict, demanding father. more
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Unsinkable: A Memoir
Author/Actors/Director/etc.: Debbie Reynolds
Format: Hardcover
Publisher: William Morrow (2013, Apr 2nd).
Pages: 320
Unsinkable is the definitive memoir by film legend and Hollywood icon Debbie Reynolds.Actress, comedienne, singer, and dancer Debbie Reynolds shares the highs and lows of her life as an actress during Hollywood’s Golden Age, anecdotes about her lifelong friendship with Elizabeth Taylor and her experiences as the foremost collector of Hollywood memorabilia, and intimate details of her marriages and family life with her children, Carrie and Todd Fisher.A story of heartbreak, hope, and survival, “America’s Sweetheart” Debbie Reynolds picks up where she left off in her first memoir, Debbie: My Life.Unsinkable is illustrated with previously unpublished photos from Reynolds’s personal collection. more
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Carry On, Warrior: Thoughts on Life Unarmed
Author/Actors/Director/etc.: Glennon Melton
Format: Hardcover
Publisher: Scribner (2013, Apr 2nd).
Pages: 288
For years Glennon Doyle Melton built a wall between herself and others, hiding inside a bunker of secrets and shame. But one day everything changed: Glennon woke up to life, committing herself to living out loud and giving language to our universal (yet often secret) experiences. She became a sensation when her personal essays started going viral. Her hilarious and poignant observations have been read by millions, shared among friends, discussed at water coolers, and have now inspired a social movement. In Carry On, Warrior, Melton shares new stories and the best-loved material from Momastery.com. Her mistakes and triumphs demonstrate that love wins and that together we can do hard things. Melton is a courageous truth-teller and hopespreader, a wise and witty friend who emboldens us to believe in ourselves and reminds us that the journey is the reward. more
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Mom & Me & Mom
Author/Actors/Director/etc.: Maya Angelou
Format: Hardcover
Publisher: Random House (2013, Apr 2nd).
Pages: 224
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLERThe story of Maya Angelou’s extraordinary life has been chronicled in her multiple bestselling autobiographies. But now, at last, the legendary author shares the deepest personal story of her life: her relationship with her mother. For the first time, Angelou reveals the triumphs and struggles of being the daughter of Vivian Baxter, an indomitable spirit whose petite size belied her larger-than-life presence—a presence absent during much of Angelou’s early life. When her marriage began to crumble, Vivian famously sent three-year-old Maya and her older brother away from their California home to live with their grandmother in Stamps, Arkansas. The subsequent feelings of abandonment stayed with Angelou for years, but their reunion, a decade later, began a story that has never before been told. more
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Until I Say Good-Bye: My Year of Living with Joy
Author/Actors/Director/etc.: Susan Spencer-Wendel
Format: Hardcover
Publisher: Harper (2013, Mar 12th).
Pages: 256
Susan Spencer-Wendel’s Until I Say Good-Bye: My Year of Living with Joy is a moving and inspirational memoir by a woman who makes the most of her final days after discovering she has amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).After Spencer-Wendel, a celebrated journalist at the Palm Beach Post, learns of her diagnosis of ALS, more commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, she embarks on several adventures, traveling toseveral countries and sharing special experiences with loved ones. One trip takes Spencer-Wendel and her fourteen-year-old daughter, Marina, to New York City’s Kleinfeld’s Bridal to shop for Marina’s future wedding dress—an occasion that Susan knows she will never see.Co-written with Bret Witter, Until I Say Good-Bye is Spencer-Wendel’s account of living a full life with humor, courage, and love, but also accepting death with grace and dignity. more
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