Category: Books

By Clifton Melby

It was August 9, 2015, still dark in the early hours of a cool Autumn Sunday morning. I was eager and excited about my second ride into the Maritimes with the route including both Newfoundland and Labrador, the two provinces I missed on my first visit. On my last ride there, while conversing with a total stranger in Nova Scotia, it seemed to me that I had been more than cordially invited but almost contracted to make this trip. Although it seemed very strange to me at the time, such was his influence.

While on the ferry from North Sydney, Nova Scotia, to Argentia, Newfoundland, through the long dark hours of the night, a strange and haunting incident occurred. I healed from the physical injury of the incident in a few days, but mentally it proved to be a different matter. I had to share this in order to move forward. This was my inspiration to write this book. It is a work based almost entirely on my daily journal entries but also includes some fiction. While continuing on my ride, I began a lengthy healing process with the help of a very strange visitor.

I am happy to say that today, this whole adventure is filed away safely in a good place. I find myself longing for yet one more visit.

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has. Margaret Mead

At the age of twenty-three, in the 1920s, Margaret Mead traveled alone to the South Sea and wrote of adolescent sexuality and guilt-free love in her now classic Coming of Age in Samoa. For the next half-century, Mead would act as a powerful participant and opinion maker in the largest issues of her time: culture and religion, education and child rearing, sex and freedom, world hunger, war, and the politics of peace.

Outrageous and extravagant, Mead was, in every sense of the word, spirited. Friendships and families of many kinds were at the core of her personal life, and she was both loyal and demanding with people, always challenging them to move in new directions.

An inveterate world traveler, a teacher at Columbia University, and curator of The Museum of Natural History, Mead wrote thirty-four books, made ten films, and was granted twenty-eight honorary degrees and numerous awards. This intimate and fascinating story is an astonishing record of the personal and scientific life of an extraordinary human being.

By Alex Gino

The unforgettable debut from Stonewall Award Winner Alex Gino.
George joins the Scholastic Gold line, which features award-winning and beloved novels. Includes exclusive bonus content!

When people look at Melissa, they think they see a boy named George. But she knows she’s not a boy. She knows she’s a girl.

Melissa thinks she’ll have to keep this a secret forever. Then her teacher announces that their class play is going to be Charlotte’s Web. Melissa really, really, REALLY wants to play Charlotte. But the teacher says she can’t even try out for the part… because she’s a boy.

With the help of her best friend, Kelly, Melissa comes up with a plan. Not just so she can be Charlotte — but so everyone can know who she is, once and for all.

References:

• Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, Betsy Gomez, October 6, 2017 – Author Donates Copies of Book After Wichita District Declines to Shelve It
• Wikipedia – George (novel)
• The PIlot, Jaymie Baxley, March 7, 2022 – “George” Author Weighs in on Push to Remove Book From Moore County Schools
• The New York Times, Sarah Lorge Butler, May 8, 2018 – Parents Are Divided Over a Book in a Popular Student Reading Program in Oregon
• The Advocate, Daniel Reynolds, April 9, 2019 – America’s Most Banned Book, George, Is About a Trans Girl