Showing results by narrator "Jesse Vilinsky" in All Categories

Lydia hasn’t felt comfortable in her own skin since the boys at her school started commenting on the way she looks in her uniform. Her cousin and friends think she should be flattered, but the boys - and sometimes her mom’s boyfriend, Jeremy - make Lydia uncomfortable and confused. Even more confusing is when Jeremy hovers too close and hugs a little too long. Then her mom surprises her by buying a dilapidated house in their neighborhood. Lydia hopes to find a little bit of magic in their new home.

Twelve-year-old Kimmy Jones wants to excel at the unique (and secret) aspect of her family’s funeral home business. Under the watchful eye of Grandma Bev, Kimmy learns how to raise the recently deceased, request their last wish, and break the connection to send them on. But when Grandma unexpectedly dies herself, Kimmy can’t reach her spirit, and nothing seems like it’s ever going to be right again.

After defeating The Hisser - and discovering their power as a team - Infinity Trinity is ready for its next adventure. When Akiko, Mae, and Josie learn that a spy has been betraying secrets to the Japanese military, they join Room Twelve in San Francisco for important work with other code-cracking experts. But soon there is personal code to crack: Akiko spots her mom walking with the suspected spy through San Francisco, which had been her family’s home until Executive Order No. 9066 sent Akiko and all Japanese Americans on the West Coast into internment camps.

Ruby Harris, the longtime owner of the historic B&B, The Christmas House, is tying the knot—on Christmas Eve! Olivia Harris is thrilled for her grandmother and can’t wait to help plan the event. Newly divorced, with an adorable baby girl, Olivia has spent the last year starting a new life in Silver Springs. First on her list is to renovate the old warehouse she’s purchased and launch her dance studio. The second is to find a date for the wedding. And third is to not fall for that date because she’s sworn off relationships forever. 

Atlantic City, 1934. Every summer, Esther and Joseph Adler rent their house out to holidaymakers and move into the apartment above the bakery they own. The apartment is where they raised their two daughters, Fannie and Florence, and, despite the cramped quarters, it still feels like home. Now Florence has returned from college, determined to spend the summer training to swim the English Channel and Fannie, pregnant again after recently losing a baby, is on bedrest, leaving her seven-year-old daughter, Gussie, in Esther’s care.

Gustav and Fernie's adventures in the Dark Country continue as they search for their families. But as they get closer to discovering their families' fates, their mission is once again threatened by old foes - as well as some new, even more treacherous, ones. Will Gustav and Fernie be able to battle their way through and rescue their families before it's too late?

Seventeen-year-old Bliss Walker has been stuck in a home that doesn’t feel like hers for six years. Ever since Mama dropped her off and never came back. Then, the summer before her senior year of high school, two things happen: Mama returns out of the blue, and Bliss meets Blake, a boy who listens like everything she has to say is worth hearing. It should be a dream come true. But as the summer spins on, Bliss finds herself facing a painful choice: between the life she’s always longed for, and the world she’s starting to make for herself.

With that terrifying message, Jo and her family learned the truth: They are trapped forever on Tau Ceti e. But the planet’s current occupants - the Sorrow - are not interested in sharing. The fragile peace Jo negotiated abruptly shatters, and soon a bloody battle is raging between the Sorrow and the Pioneers. As tensions rise, the survival of everyone Jo cares for seems less likely by the second.

In the year 2164, the World Government has extended communication to Planet Scepter but has yet to enforce any rules which makes it the perfect spot for Cromwell. Instead of Sierra's father, he now holds her mother. In order to save her, Sierra will need to make new friends in this place of glowing leaves and a floating capital.

Joan Cooper is a 17-year-old genius who was traumatized by the death of her older sister and who tries to rebuild her shattered world by studying string theory and the efforts to unify the laws of physics. But as she tackles the complex equations, she falls prey to disturbing visions of a divine being who wants to help her unveil the universe’s mathematical design. Joan must enter the battle between science and religion, fighting for her sanity and a new understanding of the cosmos.

Fernie and Gustav leave the safety of the Gloom Mansion and begin their long journey to the Shadow Country to save their families from the evil Lord Obsidian. Aided by the magical Cryptic Carousel, Fernie and Gustav travel to lots of exotic locations as they try to locate the Shadow Country, meeting a few new foes along the way.

Shelby Tebow is the first to go missing. Not long after, Meredith Dickey and her six-year-old daughter, Delilah, vanish just blocks away from where Shelby was last seen, striking fear into their once-peaceful community. Are these incidents connected? After an elusive search that yields more questions than answers, the case eventually goes cold.

Sisters April and Jenn haven't been close in years. Jenn's too busy with school, the family antique shop, and her boyfriend, and April would rather play soccer and hang out with the boy next door. But when April notices her older sister is sad about staying home for college, she decides to do something about it. The girls set off to revive a pact they made as kids: spend an epic day exploring the greatest hits of their childhood and all that Los Angeles has to offer.

In The Future of Science Is Female, author and award-winning journalist Zara Stone shares the fascinating, complicated stories of how a diverse group of powerful women got started - from the perspective of those still working it out as they go along. Take 22-year-old Dominique Barnes, a female hero of the oceans. She was worried about all the dolphins and whales killed during shrimp farming, so the marine biologist created a tasty, affordable plant-based shrimp alternative. And she's just one of the sheroes you will discover in The Future of Science Is Female.

Georgia Rosenbloom’s father was a famous artist. His most well-known paintings were a series of asterisms - patterns of stars - that he created. One represented a bird, one himself, and one Georgia’s mother. There was supposed to be a fourth asterism, but Georgia’s father died before he could paint it. Georgia’s mother and her best friend, Theo, are certain that the last asterism would’ve been of Georgia, but Georgia isn’t so sure. 

Writing at Work covers everything professionals need to know about writing on the job today. HR and L&D managers can use this new course to train experienced employees who already know the basics of business writing but could use a refresher.

Wyatt Westlock has one plan for the farmhouse she's just inherited -- to burn it to the ground. But during her final walkthrough of her childhood home, she makes a shocking discovery in the basement -- Peter, the boy she once considered her best friend, strung up in chains and left for dead. Unbeknownst to Wyatt, Peter has suffered hundreds of ritualistic deaths on her family's property. Semi-immortal, Peter never remains dead for long, but he can't really live, either. Not while he's bound to the farm, locked in a cycle of grisly deaths and painful rebirths.

In Gustav Gloom and the Four Terrors, things are not always what they seem in the Gloom Mansion. Gustav decides that he needs to rescue his father from the Dark Country, but he can't do that without Fernie's help. After Gustav convinces Fernie's safety-conscious father to enter the Gloom Mansion with Fernie and Pearlie, there is a prison break from the Hall of Shadow Criminals and it's up to Fernie to save her family and Gustav before it's too late.

Riley Thomas is feeling stuck—she’s moved from California to Nebraska, she’s on a weeklong Oregon Trail family bonding excursion, and her luggage is lost. There’s no one her age on the trip except a tall, dark and irksome cowboy who wrongly assumes she has zero ability to handle the great outdoors. She can’t wait for this misery to end—even though going “home” isn’t even possible anymore.

In Gustav Gloom and the Nightmare Vault, Fernie and Gustav find themselves battling another shadowy foe - The Shadow Eater. He is after one thing, The Nightmare Vault, which his master, the evil Lord Obsidian, will use to unleash the most terrifying and threatening shadows into the world. As Fernie and Gustav race to stop the Shadow Eater, Fernie learns about Gustav's mysterious past and just what happened to his missing parents.