New Releases by Liz Rosenberg

Insightful, exciting, and deeply moving, Liz Rosenberg’s distinctive portrait of the author of Little Women reveals some of her life’s more complex and daring aspects. Moody and restless, teenage Louisa longed for freedom. Faced with the expectations of her loving but hapless family, the Alcotts, and of nineteenth-century New England society, Louisa struggled to find her place. On long meandering runs through the woods behind Orchard House, she thought about a future where she could write and think and dream. Undaunted by periods of abject poverty and enriched by friendships with some of the greatest minds of her time and place, she was determined to have this future, no matter the cost. Drawing on the surviving journals and letters of Louisa and her family and friends, author and poet Liz Rosenberg reunites Louisa May Alcott with her most ardent readers. In this warm and sometimes heartbreaking biography, Rosenberg delves deep into the oftentimes secretive life of a woman who was ahead of her time, imbued with social conscience, and always moving toward her future with a determination that would bring her fame, tragedy, and the realization of her biggest dreams.

An affecting biography of the author of Anne of Green Gables is the first for young readers to include revelations about her last days and to encompass the complexity of a brilliant and sometimes troubled life. Once upon a time, there was a girl named Maud who adored stories. When she was fourteen years old, Maud wrote in her journal, “I love books. I hope when I grow up to be able to have lots of them.” Not only did Maud grow up to own lots of books, she wrote twenty-four of them herself as L. M. Montgomery, the world-renowned author of Anne of Green Gables. For many years, not a great deal was known about Maud’s personal life. Her childhood was spent with strict, undemonstrative grandparents, and her reflections on writing, her lifelong struggles with anxiety and depression, her “year of mad passion,” and her difficult married life remained locked away, buried deep within her unpublished personal journals. Through this revealing and deeply moving biography, kindred spirits of all ages who, like Maud, never gave up “the substance of things hoped for” will be captivated anew by the words of this remarkable woman.

''There are so many things I''d love to tell you girls, but, well - I just don''t know...'' Alma Johansson confides this to her grown daughters, Louisa and Michelle, shortly before her death, leaving them puzzled. Their mother''s life was an open book, so what could she possibly have kept from them? But when her will is read, revealing a life-altering secret, her words take on new meaning. They also bring back decades-old memories of a deadly fire on Indigo Hill, a fire that killed five of their friends. For Louisa in particular, the scars from that fateful night are still visible. Now, with their mother''s hidden past out in the open, both Louisa and Michelle must confront their own painful secrets to have a chance at a meaningful future.

The riveting story of one brave young woman''s struggle to free herself from a web of deceit. For misfit Libby Archer, social expectations for young women in Rochester, New York, in the mid-1950s don''t work. Her father has died, leaving her without parents, and her well-meaning friends are pressuring her to do what any sensible single girl must do: marry a passionate, persistent hometown suitor with a promising future. Yet Libby boldly defies conventional wisdom and plans to delay marriage--to anyone--by departing for her uncle''s Belfast estate. In Ireland, Libby seeks not only the comfort of family but also greater opportunities than seem possible during the stifling McCarthy era at home. Across the Atlantic, Libby finds common ground with her brilliant, invalid cousin, Lazarus, then puts her trust in a sophisticated older woman who seems to be everything she hopes to become. Fraught with betrayal and long-kept secrets, as well as sudden wealth and unexpected love, Libby''s journey toward independence takes turns she never could have predicted--and calls on courage and strength she never knew she had.

A funny, heartfelt, perfectly pitched story about misunderstandings and the importance of true friendship. When a little girl thinks that her best friend James has been saying bad things about her behind her back, she takes action in the form of the silent treatment. As they go about their day and James tries harder and harder to get her to talk to him, they both realize that true friendship surpasses any rumor... or misunderstanding. A classic childhood situation is brought to life with humor and poignancy with energetic illustrations by Matt Myers and a simple, telling text by Liz Rosenberg. A Neal Porter Book

A book of poems about "children" in the widest sense—from children of the Nazi-torn Warsaw ghettos to the American poor, as well as poems of domesticity, love, and daily life.

Agnes Hussein, descendant of the last sultan of Singapore and the last surviving member of her immediate family, has grown up among her eccentric relatives in the crumbling Kampong Glam palace, a once-opulent relic given to her family in exchange for handing over Singapore to the British. Now Agnes is seventeen and her family has fallen into genteel poverty, surviving on her grandfather''s pension and the meager income they receive from a varied cast of boarders. As outside forces conspire to steal the palace out from under them, Agnes struggles to save her family and finds bravery, love, and loyalty in the most unexpected places. The Moonlight Palace is a coming-of-age tale rich with historical detail and unforgettable characters set against the backdrop of dazzling 1920s Singapore.

Nicole, airy and beautiful, discovers that her body is betraying her, and in her despair she appeals to her cousin Ari for the blood supply that he''s been banking for his own children. Denied access to the blood, Nicole and Ari enter into a legal battle that Solomon Richter, state Supreme Court justice, must decide as his last case before retirement. The bonds of family are tested in the ensuing court case.

Tobias''s father is different from other dads, not only because he is a tyrannosaurus but also because he is busy all of the time. But when disaster looms during Field Day at Tobias''s school, his dad comes through. Full color.

EVERYBODY''S GOING TO FALL IN LOVE WITH NOBODY, George''s imaginary friend. When they decide to fix breakfast together, Nobody suggests chocolate meat loaf, but they settle on pancakes, and cook up a storm . . . and a mess. Eventually order is restored, and pancakes are served. And Nobody eats more than anybody. Filled with clever wordplay that tells a story true to so many children’s experience, NOBODY will soon have many friends.

Can lighting really strike twice? Just ask Eve, whose husband walks out on her in the middle of a garage sale. Eve''s beloved Ivan died thirteen years ago in an automobile accident. Her charming, boyish Chuck has taken a different exit out of her life: hopping into his car in the middle of a garage sale with no forewarning and departing their formerly happy upstate New York home for points unknown. Now Eve''s a boat adrift, subsisting on a heartbreak diet of rue, disappointment, and woe-left alone to care for Ivan''s brilliant teenaged son, Marcus, and Chuck''s precocious, pragmatic nine-year-old daughter, Noni, while contending with Charlotte, Eve''s acerbic mother, who''s come north to "help" but hinders instead. But life ultimately must go on, with its highs and lows, its traumas and holidays, and well-meaning, if eccentric, friends. A house and a heart in disrepair are painful burdens for a passionate woman who''s still in her prime. And while learning to cope with the large and small tragedies that each passing day brings, Eve might end up discovering that she''s gained much more than she''s lost. A poignant, lovely, funny, and ultimately uplifting story of love, family, and survival, Liz Rosenberg''s Home Repair is an unforgettable introduction to a lyrical, wise, and wonderfully vibrant new literary voice.

THE PERFECT GIFT FOR ANY NEWBORN AND THEIR FAMILY The wind leads readers and listeners through the pages of this poetic tale of two mothers—one human, one mouse— recounting the story of giving birth to their children. Lyrically and rhythmically, the repeating chorus “This is the wind that blew on the farm on the night you were born…” guides us through the text as each page adds a continuing line to a song of new life. Gorgeous illustrations show the human world and the tiny mouse world, both under the same lush moonlight. A treasure for any mother-to-be or new parent.

Poetry. THE LILY POEMS are love poems for an adopted daughter, a tribute to hope and to family. Liz Rosenberg''s work has appeared in The New Yorker, Best American Poems, The Atlantic Monthly, The Paris Review, Poetry, APR and elsewhere. Robert Creeley wrote, "Liz Rosenberg is clearly a poet of great distinction in her generation" and the New York Times praised her for being "eager to jump into experience with the innocence of an enthusiast and the vulnerability of a lover." In THE LILY POEMS she celebrates the exasperation and exhilaration of parenting: "It''s a party always going on in this room without drinks or gossip, / without dips, or introductions. In her bedroom / there is only one chair, which we two share."

"Wherever Liz Rosenberg''s poetry goes, it goes as a deeply felt perfected instrument not of any ̀created'' or ̀willed'' thing whatsoever, but of a natural and revealing instinct-searcing, discovering, pausing with remarkable precision and the touch of a bold true poetic imagination. These poems are altogether a way of being, charged with beauty, bravery and luminous renewal."---Jason Shinder, Author of Among Women and Editor of Howl: The Poem That Changed America --Book Jacket.

The teenage years are filled with sadness, madness, joy, and all the messy stuff in between. This collection includes poems by Charles Bukowski, Sylvia Plath, Anne Sexton, T.S. Eliot, Edgar Allen Poe, W.B. Yeats, Dorothy Parker, and many more, including teenage writers.

Can Santa find you even if you are stuck in a motel room on Christmas Eve? A room without a chimney or a mailbox with your name on it? A winsome story, marvelously detailed illustrations and just a touch of magic make this handsome book ideal for sharing at holiday time.

The loving voices of a child''s parents tell the story of an adoption, from waiting to meet the baby for the first time through the growth of a family. Peter Catalanotto''s vibrant illustrations form a clever and dramatic counterpoint to the text; presented as a series of family snapshots, the images run backward in time.

Poetry. THESE HAPPY EYES is a collection of prose poems that appear to explore the quotidian (in bus windows, daily events, weather) but also resonate on a deeper field driven by emotions and the abstract qualities of life. "Not entirely happy, never entirely happy. This depression lingers like the flu. It makes it hard to face the future. Sometimes I sit on top of an old wooden crate in the attic, like the madwoman, chin sunk in my hand, just looking or breathing in and out, till eventually, always, something catches my eye and my heart leaps up for joy. It never fails me. I never know what it will be - an old man going so slowly around the block he looks like a statue come alive, the children racing behind the church, a leafless tree, snow falling at midnight making the only light in the room. Thank god. These happy, happy eyes" -- Liz Rosenberg.

When his night light burns out before he falls asleep, a young boy thinks of all the other sources of light that can brighten his room.

When his family leaves their war-torn country to come to live in America, a young boy has trouble adjusting, until his grandfather helps him find what he had missed most.

Two sisters find that the horses of a broken carousel have come alive in the rain.

With the help of his magician uncle, a young boy finds his special elephant toy.

Animals act out the letters of the alphabet in pictures that feature each letter.

Seventeen-year-old Willie Steinberg returns home to Richmond from a private school in Philadelphia depressed and overwhelmed, but as she helps an eccentric fellow student, she begins to hava a better understanding of her parents and of her own musical talent. Copyright © Libri GmbH. All rights reserved.

Relates how Grandmother, accompanied by a mischievous shadow, emigrated from Russia to the United States.