Exploring Top Books of Shelfari

Welcome to Elsewhere. It is warm, with a breeze, and the beaches are marvelous. It’s quiet and peaceful. You can’t get sick or any older. Curious to see new paintings by Picasso? Swing by one of Elsewhere’s museums. Need to talk to someone about your problems? Stop by Marilyn Monroe’s psychiatric practice. Elsewhere is where fifteen-year-old Liz Hall ends up, after she has died. It is a place so like Earth,... (more)

The Hard Facts of the Grimms' Fairy Tales

The Hard Facts of the Grimms' Fairy Tales

by Maria Tatar

Murder, mutilation, cannibalism, infanticide, and incest: the darker side of classic fairy tales figures as the subject matter for this intriguing study of Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm's Nursery and Household Tales. This updated and expanded second edition includes a new preface and an appendix containing new translations of six tales, along with commentary by Maria Tatar. Throughout the book, Tatar skillfully employs... (more)

Death's Acre: Inside the Legendary Forensic Lab the Body Farm Where the Dead Do Tell Tales

Death's Acre: Inside the Legendary Forensic Lab the Body Farm Where the Dead Do Tell Tales

by William M. Bass

Dr. Bill Bass, one of the world's leading forensic anthropologists, gained international attention when he built a forensic lab like no other: The Body Farm. Now, this master scientist unlocks the gates of his lab to reveal his most intriguing cases-and to revisit the Lindbergh kidnapping and murder, fifty years after the fact.

The Castle in the Forest: A Novel

by Norman Mailer

No career in modern American letters is at once so brilliant, varied, and controversial as that of Norman Mailer. In a span of more than six decades, Mailer has searched into subjects ranging from World War II to Ancient Egypt, from the march on the Pentagon to Marilyn Monroe, from Henry Miller and Mohammad Ali to Jesus Christ. Now, in The Castle in the Forest, his first major work of fiction in more than a... (more)

Stargirl

by Jerry Spinelli

The Gospel According to Larry (Readers Circle)

The Gospel According to Larry (Readers Circle)

by Janet Tashjian

Josh Swensen is not your average 17-year-old. At the age of two, he was figuring out algebraic equations with colored magnetic numbers. He is a prodigy who only wants to make the world a better place. Josh’s wish comes true when his virtual alter ego, Larry, becomes a huge media sensation. Larry has his own Web site where he posts sermons on anti-consumerism and has a large following of adults and teens.... (more)

Special Topics in Calamity Physics

by Marisha Pessl

"Dazzling," ( People ) "Exuberant," ( Vogue ) "marvelously entertaining," ( The Dallas Morning News ) Marisha Pessl’s mesmerizing debut has critics raving and heralds the arrival of a vibrant new voice in American fiction. At the center of this "cracking good read"4 is clever, deadpan Blue van Meer, who has a head full of literary, philosophical, scientific, and cinematic knowledge. But she could use some... (more)

A Street Through Time

by Anne Millard

Demonstrating the unfolding of history, panoramic views visiting a particular site every few centuries follow the evolution of a Stone Age riverside settlement into a twentieth-century city. A bold title and date with a few sentences describing significant changes appears in the upper-right-hand corner of each broad vertical scene. Added statements wind around the four borders, offering details about daily life of... (more)

Wish I Could Be There: Notes From a Phobic Life

Wish I Could Be There: Notes From a Phobic Life

by Allen Shawn

A droll, inquisitive, and poignant memoir of agoraphobia from a member of one of New York’s premier literary families Allen Shawn is afraid of heights, water, fields, parking lots, tunnels, and unknown roads. He avoids taking subways, using elevators, or crossing bridges. In short, he is afraid of both closed and open spaces and of any form of isolation. Yet this is a memoir of enormous bravery. ... (more)

The Evolution of Jane

by Cathleen Schine

From the bestselling author of The Love Letter , comes a playful and evocative exploration of the nature of friendship "Classy, intelligent fun." -- People Six hundred miles off the Ecuadoran mainland, just south of the equator, the Galpagos Islands are home to diverse species of exotic wildlife--and tourists of every stripe and feather. It is here that Jane Barlow Schwartz embarks on a quest as urgent as... (more)

Paranormal Powers (Secrets of the Unexplained, Group 1)Gary L. Blackwood, Daniel Cohen

Paranormal Powers (Secrets of the Unexplained, Group 1)

by Gary Blackwood

Discusses ESP, enhanced perception, psychokinesis, and other paranormal phenomena, as well as the work of psychic detectives and water witches.

Oh Rats! The Story of Rats and People: The Story of Rats and People

Oh Rats! The Story of Rats and People: The Story of Rats and People

by Albert Marrin

Able to claw straight up a brick wall, squeeze through a pipe the width of a quarter, and gnaw through iron and concrete, rats are also revealed in this fascinating book to be incredibly intelligent and capable of great compassion. Weaving science, history, culture, and folklore, awardwinning writer Albert Marrin offers a look at rats that goes from curious to repulsive, horrifying to comic, fearsome to... (more)

Seen Art?

by Jon Scieszka

It all started when I told my friend Art I would meet him on the corner of Fifth and Fifty-Third. I didn’t see him. So I asked a lady walking up the avenue,"Have you seen Art?" "MoMA?" asked the lady. "Just down Fifty-Third Street here." When this address turns out to be the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, confusion and hilarity ensue.As the narrator continues looking for Art inside MoMA, he views... (more)

Smashed: Story of a Drunken Girlhood

by Koren Zailckas

Garnering a vast amount of attention from young people and parents, and from book buyers across the country, Smashed became a media sensation and a New York Times bestseller. Eye- opening and utterly gripping, Koren Zailckas’s story is that of thousands of girls like her who are not alcoholics—yet—but who routinely use booze as a shortcut to courage and a stand-in for good judgment. With one stiff sip... (more)

One Lonely Sea Horse

by Saxton Freymann

Fantastic food sculptures tell the tale of a lonely seahorse whose friends arrive in progessively larger groups, proving with humor and flair that they can be counted on!

How Are You Peeling? (bkshelf) (Scholastic Bookshelf)

How Are You Peeling? (bkshelf) (Scholastic Bookshelf)

by Saxton Freymann

Category: Feelings"Amused? Confused? Frustrated? Surprised? Try these feelings on for size."This is a book that asks all the right questions. And leaves you feeling great no matter what the answers are!"Who'd have dreamed that produce could be so expressive, so charming, so lively and so funny?...Freymann and...Elffers have created sweet and feisty little beings with feelings, passions, fears and an emotional... (more)

How to Talk to Your Dog

by Jean Craighead George

Find out what your dog is really saying -- and talk back! Jean Craighead George, Newbery Medal -- winning author of over 80 books about nature and animals, demonstrates in words and photos how to communicate with your best friend.

Just in Case

by Judith Viorst

Charlie is a boy who is always ready for anything... just in case. What if it's raining very hard -- so hard that rain could come into the house and make the furniture float? Charlie has a plan to keep himself dry... just in case. What if his parents are going out and he gets a babysitter who won't read to him or let him watch TV? Charlie has a plan for making his own fun... just in case. Charlie likes to be... (more)

Leo the Late Bloomer

by Robert Kraus

Leo isn’t reading, or writing, or drawing, or even speaking, and his father is concerned. But Leo’s mother isn’t. She knows her son will do all those things, and more, when he’s ready. ‘Reassuring for other late bloomers, this book is illustrated with beguiling pictures.’—Saturday Review.

The Secrets of Judas: The Story of the Misunderstood Disciple and His Lost Gospel

The Secrets of Judas: The Story of the Misunderstood Disciple and His Lost Gospel

by James M. Robinson

The discovery of a previously lost Gospel of Judas Iscariot has electrified the Christian community. What Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John tell us about Judas, the disciple who betrayed Jesus, is inconsistent and biased. Therefore, the revelation of an ancient gospel that portrays this despised man as someone who saw his role in the Passion of Christ as integral to a larger plan—a divine plan—brings new clarity to... (more)

Shelfari Book Activity

Tags: anth/arch/soc/psych

by Gabrielle Zevin

by Maria Tatar

by William M. Bass

by Norman Mailer

by Jerry Spinelli

by Janet Tashjian

by Marisha Pessl

by Anne Millard

by Allen Shawn

by Cathleen Schine

by Gary Blackwood

by Albert Marrin

by Jon Scieszka

by Koren Zailckas

by Saxton Freymann

by Saxton Freymann

by Jean Craighead George

by Judith Viorst

by Robert Kraus

by James M. Robinson