What makes a Christmas tree attractive? Where do Himalayan Persians, beagles, and hamsters fit into the Christmas scheme? How do pleasant, well-intentioned seasonal gestures such as decorating the house, baking cookies, sending Christmas cards, purchasing gifts, giving parties, and going to events become stress-inducing obligations? In Have Yourself a Hamster Little Christmas, author Sarah Shell Teague presents a collection of essays that describes the ups and downs of what can be a most h...

With gimleteyed wit and illuminated prose, Augusten shows how the holidays bring out the worst in us and sometimes, just sometimes, the very, very best.You've eaten too much candy at Christmas...but have you ever eaten the face off a six-foot stuffed Santa? You've seen gingerbread houses...but have you ever made your own gingerbread tenement? You've woken up with a hangover...but have you ever woken up next to Kris Kringle himself? Augusten Burroughs has, and in th...

One of The New York Times Book Review 10 Best Books of the Year“Amy Hempel’s dazzling wit and exquisite use of language are impossible to disclaim” (San Francisco Chronicle) and this celebrated volume gathers together her complete work—four short collections of stunning stories about marriages, minor disasters, and moments of revelation.Amy Hempel is a master of the short story. With her inimitable compassion and ...

"You can almost hear the skipping rope slapping the sidewalk,” wrote Margaret Laurence of Dennis Lee’s timeless poetry collection Alligator Pie. One of the first illustrated books published about Canadian children and featuring Canadian place names, Alligator Pie established Dennis Lee’s reputation as “Canada’s Father Goose” and has sold more than half a million copies since its publication in 1974. This classic edition, featuring Frank Newfeld’s instantly recognizable or...

This collection of 101 heartwarming and entertaining stories of holiday traditions, family, and goodwill will spread the wonder and joy of the holiday season. A fantastic holiday gift and a great way to start the season!Christmas is a festive and joyful time of year, a time of family, friends, and traditions. You will delight in reading the 101 merry and touching stories of love, joy, and wonder. And all the stories are “Santa safe” so they can keep the magic alive...

The elves at Chicken Soup for the Soul have done it again! You’ll love these stories all about the joy, wonder, and inspiration of the holiday season.The Joy of Christmas is a collection of 101 heartwarming and entertaining stories about how you spend your holidays—the reunions, holiday hijinks, community spirit, and your fun family and religious traditions. We laughed out loud at some stories; and others made us tear up a little. They’ll all leave you smiling and ...

From "the funniest writer in America," a book about cooking and cleaning for people who don't know how to do those things and aren't about to learn ( The Wall Street Journal).In addition to debunking popular myths about bachelors (they are in fact not creatures known to hang around the house in silk smoking jackets, sipping brandy from oversized snifters), #1 New York Times–bestselling author P. J. O'Rourke offers some useful advice about housekee...

What is real when seen through the eyes of a child? When does the harshness of reality transform idyllic memories? The young narrator of Santa Rosa seeks the answers to these questions as she tries to make sense of the disintegration of her parents' marriage—a process echoed by the slow disintegration of their neighbourhood. In subtle poetic prose, Wendy McGrath evokes afternoons at the fair captured in overexposed photographs, and a family's disquieting day at the beach as moments that ex...

The country bunny attains the exalted position of Easter Bunny in spite of her responsibilities as the mother of twenty-one children.With twenty-one baby bunnies to look after, mother bunny Cottontail abandons her dream of becoming an Easter Bunny. But when Grandfather Bunny spies her perfectly behaved brood, he’s so impressed that he makes Cottontail the most important Easter Bunny of all! Originally published in 1939, Country Bunny and the Little Gold Shoes

Join the S.S.M.P. by owning the official monster notebook -- featuring full-color monsters on every page!Calling all future members of the Super Secret Monster Patrol! Kids love reading about the wacky monsters that attack Stermont in Troy Cummings's bestselling The Notebook of Doom series. Now fans can own Alexander Bopp's S.S.M.P. Monster Notebook, featuring each monster's habitat, diet, and everything else a monster-fighter needs to know! This 144-page, full-color book features ...

Karen O’Connor, bestselling author of Gettin’ Old Ain’t for Wimps (more than 300,000 copies sold), offers a great collection of humorous anecdotes on senior moments. Readers in the better half of life will discover 365 rather funny situations to avoid, with some of them sounding all too familiar. They are encouraged to avoid…leaving the key in the front door and going to sleep feeling secure.purchasing a book to improve your memory but leaving it at the che...

Originally published in a 1990 collection of the same name, and later in the anthology Red Plaid Shirt, “The Man of My Dreams” pulls us into a place where we too wonder what is real and what is dreamed, and how our dreams reflect love, loss, and everyday life.Red Plaid Shirt shines with Diane Schoemperlen’s fresh and often deadpan comedic voice, offering a compulsively readable mix of deeply felt emotion and finely wrought intellect. The collection was shortlisted...