Our Book Selections
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Devil's Eye
Al Ruksenas
An evil cult, spawned long ago in the desert wilderness of Egypt, has realized its goal. The people of the United States have been gifted with the presence of the Devil's Eye, which has pulsated an ancient curse. Now, an infiltrator has risen to the highest levels of society to bring about the collapse of the American way of life.
Colonel Christopher Caine is a commando in the ultra-secret Omega Group, tasked to prevent the theft of nuclear weapons and ferret out world terrorists. Dr. Laura Mitchell, a brilliant and seductive professor of French History, is versed in old myths and legends through her uncle who was a survivor of Stalin's death camps. Caine and Mitchell's acquaintance is welded when the colonel prevents a strange attack upon them one night outside the National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C.
Through starkly different backgrounds and a smoldering attraction to each other, can the duo unravel a succession of bizarre deaths of senior government officials before an inevitable nuclear surrender of America into the hands of evil, reaching out from ancient times?
Leave Your Tears in Moscow
Barbara Armonas
Barbara Armonas' 20-year ordeal in the soviet concentration camp system–the dreaded GULAG–is a rare and straightforward story, related with candor and underlying hope that the human spirit can survive any hardship, even the clamps of a vicious totalitarian system.
This 50th Anniversary Edition commemorates Barbara's unbreakable spirit, memorializes her extraordinary life (she died three days short of her 100th birthday) and harkens us to actively nurture our freedom because there still exist forces that challenge it every day.
Her account is particularly relevant today as more and more documents of the Stalinist years and the Soviet Union in general become available for public view and historical scrutiny.
How I Became A Comrade
John Armonas
This is a true story of survival, adaptation, and ultimate triumph over injustice.
John Armonas was a U.S. citizen, but had been left behind when his American-born father and five-year old sister, Donna, were urged to leave Lithuania back for the United States after the Soviets first occupied Lithuania in 1940. His mother Barbara, a native Lithuanian, was assured by American officials she and her nine-month old son could soon follow, once her immigration papers were expedited. Instead, they both ended up in Siberia in one of the massive waves of deportation from Lithuania and other Soviet occupied countries after World War II.
John became Ivan, an "orphan", with his past hidden, because his mother's alleged political offenses would have cut off all chances for his survival, let alone any opportunity for success within the Stalinist system. A dramatic public encounter by John's sister, Donna, with Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev during his visit to America in 1959, elicited from Khrushchev a promise to let Barbara and John leave the Soviet Union and be reunited with their family, ending a separation of 20 years, but not without additional bureaucratic harassment.
Wrinkles Wallace: Knights of Night School
Marquin Parks
Follow the zany adventures of Wrinkles Wallace and his classmates who have to come together as a team to outsmart their teacher and pass 5th Grade. After all, they’ve failed it a number of times–so many that Wrinkles is already 28-years old!
In Book 1 of a 4-book series, the students deal with real-world issues and themselves in order to overcome the antics of their diabolical teacher, Mr. Sittin’ B. Quiet. (By the way, he’s only ten.)
In this upside-down world, non-stop humor serves as a guide to character-building and success.
Wrinkles Wallace: Fighters of Foreclosure
Marquin Parks
Wrinkles Wallace and his crew managed to pass 5th grade, but this time in their topsy-turvy world, their now 11-year-old teacher (Mr. Sittin' B. Quiet) and his family find themselves on the verge of foreclosure.
All your favorite characters are back in Book 2, with a new friend added along the way, and are asked to attend a "Sleepover to Remember" to find some way to raise more than $22,000—overnight—to save the Quiets' house before the bankers come on Monday.
Wrinkles Wallace: Power of Parents
Marquin Parks
Follow Wrinkles Wallace and his quirky crew of friends in a brand-new adventure, even more hilarious than the last! In Book 3, the characters accompany Wrinkles as he meets his parents for the first time in almost 30 years!
After passing fifth grade together, and then avoiding foreclosure of their eleven-year-old teacher's family home, the friends fly to Flint, Michigan to experience the "filthy rich" lifestyle of Mr. and Mrs. Wallace. Find out if Wrinkles and his pals will leave their old lives (and families) behind for a chance to pursue their dreams, while also becoming filthy rich.
Chemistry, Not Science: A Book of Poems
Caroline Wright
An illustrated collection of insightful thoughts regarding human relationships with intertwining themes: love, loss, persistence, change, and renewal. A sense of awakening is gained through the promise of new beginnings.
Only Once
Ruta Mikulionis
A beloved Prince and Princess try to find their lost kingdom after a long war. Their parents sent them into deep woods with their loyal caretaker for protection, but after some years the old caretaker decides the Prince and Princess are old enough to undertake the dangerous journey out of the forest to find their parents and kingdom. She gives them their father's magic sword that can conquer anything, but can only be used once, then the magic disappears.
Will the Prince and Princess use the sword wisely as they undertake their journey in search of their lost kingdom and their royal parents? (Vocabulary and discussion questions included.)