Showing results by narrator "Kyla García" in All Categories

In her striking second collection, Natalie Scenters-Zapico sets her unflinching gaze once again on the borders of things. Lima :: Limon illuminates both the sweet and the sour of the immigrant experience, of life as a woman in the US and Mexico, and of the politics of the present day. Her lyrical poems focus on the often-tested resilience of women. Scenters-Zapico writes heartbreakingly about domestic violence and its toxic duality of macho versus hembra, of masculinity versus femininity, and throws into harsh relief the all-too-normalized pain that women endure.

Vanished tells the stories of women and girls in upstate New York who are often overlooked or unseen. The characters range from an aging art professor whose students are uninterested in learning what she has to teach, to a young girl who becomes the victim of a cruel prank in a swimming pool, to a television producer who regrets allowing her coworkers into her mother’s bird-filled house to film a show about animal hoarding because it will reveal too much about her family and past. Humorous and empathetic, the collection exposes the adversity in each character’s life.

From the award-winning Native American literary writer Diane Glancy comes a book about travel, belonging, and home. Travel is not merely a means to bring us from one location to another. "My sense of place is in the moving," Glancy writes. For her the road is home—its own satisfying destination. But the road also makes demands on us: asking us to be willing to explore the incomprehensible parts of the landscapes we inhabit and pass through-as well as to, ultimately, let them blur as they go by. This, Glancy says, is home.

Leona is very focused on her studies and is especially busy as the lead vocalist in the Star Darlings band. Star-Zaps start buzzing, and the girls know it’s probably time for one of them to head to Wishworld. It’s Leona’s turn, and she’s bursting with excitement. She can’t wait to get there and become a successful Wish-Granter. But she’ll have to challenge herself to put her own desires aside and truly understand what her Wisher needs - before her Countdown Clock runs out of time.

Coryn Williams has grown up in the megacity of Seacouver, where her every need is provided for - except satisfaction with her life. After her parents' suicides, her sister, Lou, fled the city to work on a rewilding crew, restoring lands once driven to the brink of ecological disaster by humans to a more natural state. Finally of age, Coryn leaves the city with her companion robot to look for her sister.

Perfect Mexican daughters do not go away to college. And they do not move out of their parents’ house after high school graduation. Perfect Mexican daughters never abandon their family. But Julia is not your perfect Mexican daughter. That was her sister Olga’s role. Then a tragic accident on the busiest street in Chicago leaves Olga dead, and Julia left behind to reassemble the shattered pieces of her family. And no one seems to acknowledge that Julia is broken, too.

Daria Esfandyar is Iranian-American and proud of her heritage, unlike some of the “Nose Jobs” in the clique led by her former best friend, Heidi Javadi. Daria and her friends call themselves the Authentics, because they pride themselves on always keeping it real. But in the course of researching a school project, Daria learns something shocking about her past, which launches her on a journey of self-discovery. It seems everyone is keeping secrets. And it’s getting harder to know who she even is any longer.

The Christodora is home to Milly and Jared, a privileged young couple with artistic ambitions. Their neighbour, Hector, a Puerto Rican gay man who was once a celebrated AIDS activist but is now a lonely addict, becomes connected to Milly's and Jared's lives in ways none of them can anticipate. Meanwhile, the couple's adopted son, Mateo, grows to appreciate the opportunities for both self-realization and oblivion that New York offers.

In Nazi-occupied Holland, 17-year-old Noa snatches a baby from a train bound for the concentration camps, fleeing with him into the snowy wilderness surrounding the train tracks. Passing through the woods is a German circus - a troupe of waifs and strays, led by the infamous Herr Neuroff. They agree to take in Noa and the baby, on one condition: to earn her keep, Noa must master the flying trapeze - under the tutorage of mysterious aerialist Astrid. Soaring high above the crowds, Noa and Astrid must learn to trust one another...or plummet.

Who ever said being nice would get you to the top? Certainly not Alexandra Miles. She isn't nice, but she's more than skilled at playing the part. She floats through the halls of Spencer High, effortlessly orchestrating the actions of everyone around her, making people bend to her whim without even noticing they're doing it. She is the queen of Spencer High - and it's time to make it official.

Conflicts about space and access to resources have shaped queer histories from at least 1965 to the present. As spaces associated with middle-class homosexuality enter mainstream urbanity in the United States, cultural assimilation increasingly erases insurgent aspects of these social movements. This gentrification itself leads to queer displacement.

Blandine isn't like the other residents of her building. An online obituary writer. A young mother with a dark secret. A woman waging a solo campaign against rodents—neighbours, separated only by the thin walls of a low-cost housing complex in the once bustling industrial centre of Vacca Vale, Indiana. Welcome to the Rabbit Hutch. Ethereally beautiful and formidably intelligent, Blandine shares her flat with three teenage boys she neither likes nor understands, all, like her, now aged out of the state foster care system that has repeatedly failed them.

In a future Earth that's run by brilliant green cities, separated by open land for the good of wild things, two sisters must work together across and between the two vastly different envioronments to root out dangers to both. They must protect the cities and the wilderness from the Reuturners, a group that prefers the toxic past to the difficult present.

Jaye wakes up in the hospital, disoriented and beset by a slippery morphing of reality into something else. She repeatedly sees a boy whom she feels like she knows - but that's impossible. Determined to get back to school and back to A Midsummer Night's Dream, in which she's starring, she lies to her sister, her mom, and her doctors - she's fine, she says. She's fine, she's fine, she's fine. But then on her first day back, she takes a seat in class next to the mysterious boy.

Welcome to the party. Everyone wants to be someone. Layla Harrison wants to be a reporter. Aster Amirpour wants to be an actress. Tommy Phillips wants to be a guitar hero. But Madison Brooks took destiny and made it her own a long time ago. She’s Hollywood’s hottest starlet, and the things she did to become the name on everyone’s lips are merely a stain on the pavement, ground beneath her Louboutin heel. That is until Layla, Aster, and Tommy find themselves with a VIP invite to the world of Los Angeles’ nightlife and are lured into a competition.

Adora can be aloof and opinionated and she must learn, through her Wishworld mission, to accept help and ideas from others. On this mission, which was originally set for Cassie, Adora is set to help a super sensitive and shy Wisher who must try to make a new best friend because the one she has had since early childhood has moved away. Adora has to summon her friendliness and tone down her aloof nature in order to make a connection with this Wisher. Then the unthinkable happens: the girl sees Adora's Starling appearance.

As more and more disturbing things happen on Starland, the Star Darlings gather each morning to try to unravel clues to what's wrong. One unimaginable theory is that Lady Stella herself is behind all the trouble. In the meantime, Tessa is selected to travel to Wishworld where she finds herself in a perfect spot for her—an animal shelter. When a terrible storm occurs, Tessa and her Wisher Lizzie must work together to take care of the helpless animals in the shelter, all while Tessa tries to discover Lizzie's real wish and help grant it before time runs out.

Clover is way too rigid and often plays it safe. She must learn to be more flexible and spontaneous and take more risks. Clover's Wishworld mission involved a girl who is an only child whose parents completely baby her. Clover tries some very subtle, safe maneuvers to prove that the girl is ready for some independence, but needs to make a bold move to help the girl's parents realize their little girl isn't a toddler anymore.

Gemma talks too much and has no follow-through. She must learn how to listen to others and finish what she starts while remaining curious and clever. Gemma leaves for the final mission in the dead of night, not realizing that her Wisher made a bad wish, which, if granted, could tip the balance of power forever. The other Star Darlings realize that Gemma is about to grant a bad wish, but without a shooting star in sight, they have no way of getting down to Wishworld.

Annabel Brown's first glimpse of the boy fated to change her life is on a soccer field near her home in the resort town of Seaview, Long Island. His name is Esteban Santiago, and he came to town as a member of a crew hired by Annabel's father, a widowed contractor. From the moment they see each other, Annabel and Esteban know they're meant to be together. They couldn't be more different. Annabel is a blue-eyed blonde from a wealthy family living a life of privilege and ease.