David Hill

The incredible true story of America's original—and forgotten—capital of vice Back in the days before Vegas was big, when the Mob was at its peak and neon lights were but a glimmer on the horizon, a little Southern town styled itself as a premier destination for the American leisure class. Hot Springs, Arkansas was home to healing waters, Art Deco splendor, and America’s original national park—as well as horse racing, nearly a dozen illegal casinos, countless backrooms and brothels, and some of the country’s most bald-faced criminals. Gangsters, gamblers, and gamines: all once flocked to America’s forgotten capital of vice, a place where small-town hustlers and bigtime high-rollers could make their fortunes, and hide from the law. The Vapors is the extraordinary story of three individuals—spanning the golden decades of Hot Springs, from the 1930s through the 1960s—and the lavish casino whose spectacular rise and fall would bring them together before blowing them apart. Hazel Hill was still a young girl when legendary mobster Owney Madden rolled into town in his convertible, fresh off a crime spree in New York. He quickly established himself as the gentleman Godfather of Hot Springs, cutting barroom deals and buying stakes in the clubs at which Hazel made her living—and drank away her sorrows. Owney’s protégé was Dane Harris, the son of a Cherokee bootlegger who rose through the town’s ranks to become Boss Gambler. It was his idea to build The Vapors, a pleasure palace more spectacular than any the town had ever seen, and an establishment to rival anything on the Vegas Strip or Broadway in sophistication and supercharged glamour. In this riveting work of forgotten history, native Arkansan David Hill plots the trajectory of everything from organized crime to America’s fraught racial past, examining how a town synonymous with white gangsters supported a burgeoning black middle class. He reveals how the louche underbelly of the South was also home to veterans hospitals and baseball’s spring training grounds, giving rise to everyone from Babe Ruth to President Bill Clinton. Infused with the sights and sounds of America’s entertainment heyday—jazz orchestras and auctioneers, slot machines and suited comedians—The Vapors is an arresting glimpse into a bygone era of American vice.

A Southern Family, the New York Mob, and the Rise and Fall of Hot Springs, America's Forgotten Capital of Vice

The Vapors

It's New Zealand, 1914, and the biggest war the world has ever known has just broken out in Europe. William eagerly enlists for the army but his younger brother, Edmund, is a conscientious objector and refuses to fight. While William trains to be a soldier, Edmund is arrested. Both brothers will end up on the bloody battlefields of France, but their journeys there are very different. And what they experience at the front line will challenge the beliefs that led them there.

My Brother's War

Over the years fourteen-year-old Nathan has learned a lot about muscular dystrophy from his best friend but is unprepared for Simon's rapid decline and approaching death.

See Ya, Simon

When Slade comes to Green Harbour College, with its rich kids and richer parents, the first person he meets is Mallory Garner. How does Slade feel about Mallory? He wants to kick her. Slowly he changes his mind, especially when he discovers the terrible secret that haunts Mallory's life. An unsettling, top speed, always accurate story from one of New Zealand's most popular writers for young people. Shortlisted for the Senior Fiction Prize in the New Zealand Post Children's Book Awards 2003. Winner of the LIANZA Russell Clark Award 2003.

Right where it Hurts

The Remarkable Story of the Fledgling Settlement That Survived Against the Odds

Convict Colony

Fairbridge Farm School and Its Betrayal of Australia's Child Migrants

The Forgotten Children

Recounts the life and accomplishments of Sir Edmund Hillary, from his childhood as a shy boy in New Zealand to his expedition to the top of Mt. Everest, making him one of the most famous mountaineers in history.

Sir Edmund Hillary's Amazing Everest Adventure

First to the Top

"In 1967 an unknown, elderly New Zealander and his ancient Indian motorcycle set a world land-speed record at Bonneville. The man was Burt Munro, and he became a Kiwi legend. How did he do it? His amazing true story is now a stunning picture book.A crowd of people stand on a flat white plain. In the distance, a snarling, roaring dark speck is hurtling towards them. It's a motorbike. The rider is inside the shell, lying almost flat. 'Go, Burt!'The red bike blurs past. Fingers click stop-watches.How fast has Burt Munro gone this time? The moment young Burt Munro saw a motorbike chugging down a quiet Invercargill street, he was hooked. More than fifty years later, he and his ancient Indian motorcycle would amaze the world by setting a land-speed record : one that remains unbroken to this day. Burt didn't have much money. He wasn't young. But he was determined. And he became a Kiwi legend. A wonderful true story about a very unlikely New Zealand champion, by the award-winning author and illustrator of First to the Top."

Speed King

When a crazy old man leaps out of the bushes at Conrad on his way to swimming training, he gets the fright of his life. And when he discovers the man’s granddaughter is that weird horse-riding girl from school, he decides to steer clear of them. But fate has other ideas … and he is drawn into a grim secret. What’s the old man’s connection to a death from long ago? And whose life is in danger now …

Sinking

It's 1953 and Peter is determined that his scout patrol will get to the finals of a First Aid competition. This means travelling to Auckland by train on Christmas Eve, a journey that Peter will never forget. Suggested level: intermediate, junior secondary.

The Diary of Peter Cotterill, Napier, 1953

Journey to Tangiwai

A green level reader in which Stephanie, a new girl at school, decides she does not want to be ordinary. Trying to appear cool and mysterious she tells her new classmates her father is a Russian spy, only to find her lies soon backfire. Suggested level: primary.

Colors

Extra/ordinary Objects

David Dyer's astonishing novel The Midnight Watchis based on the true story of the SS Californian, the ship that sawtheTitanic'sdistress rockets and yet, unfathomably, did nothing. A psychological thriller. Sometimes the smallest of human failings can lead to the greatest of disasters On a wretchedly cold night in the North Atlantic, a steamer stopped in an icefield sees the glow of another ship on the horizon. Just after midnight the first of eight distress rockets is fired. Why did theCalifornian look on while theTitanicsank? As soon as Boston Americanreporter John Steadman lays eyes on the man who stood the midnight watch on the Californian, he knows there's another story lurking behind the official one. Herbert Stone must have seen something, and yet his ship did nothing while the calamity took place. Now Stone, under his captain's orders, must carry his secret in silence, while Steadman is determined to find it out. So begins a strange dance around the truth by these three men. Haunted by the fifteen hundred who went to their deaths in those icy waters, and by the loss of his own baby son years earlier, Steadman must either find redemption in the Titanic's tragedy or lose himself. Based on true events, The Midnight Watchis at once a heart-stopping mystery and a deeply knowing novel - about the frailty of men, the strength of women, the capriciousness of fate and the price of loyalty.

Enemy Camp

Shivam Bhatt

Filamena Young

Logan Bonner

John Snead

Jeremy Keller

Crafty Games

Alex Flagg

Rally Your CrewBased on the best-selling novels by Brandon Sanderson and powered by an all new story-driven rules system, the Mistborn Adventure Game lets you explore, command, or liberate the oppressed world of Scadrial, battle the Lord Ruler's Inquisitors, and master the primal forces of Allomancy, Feruchemy, and Hemalurgy. It features new official fiction from Mr. Sanderson himself and loads of never-before-seen material, making it the ultimate resource for fans of the novels and those who want to experience the Final Empire firsthand.

Mistborn RPG (softcover)

Jann Blackstone

Parents going through separation or divorce are understandably worried about how the change in the family will affect their children. This guide walks parents through all the factors they should consider and offers step-by-step guidance on how to work together to put their children first. From sharing the news with children in an age-appropriate way to handling the issue of custody, from concerns about affairs or abuse to embarking on remarriage and blending families, Co-Parenting Through Separation and Divorce offers a roadmap through one of life's most difficult challenges with the goal of healthy, happy kids informing every decision along the way.

Putting Your Children First

Co-parenting Through Separation and Divorce

Psychiatric Oppression in the United States

The Politics of Schizophrenia

New Testament Prophecy

Room for Improvement

Caught in a tunnel collapse, Liam and Imogen have to use all their wits to survive in this gripping novel for readers eight years and up. When you stood deep inside the tunnel, you could hear the mountain groaning overhead. That's what Liam Geary's father had told him, anyway. It sounded stupid, till you stood inside a big tunnel; felt those billions of tonnes pressing in from above and the sides; heard water dripping from ceilings, or even trickling like something's blood behind the concrete walls; sensed the blackness that lay beyond the TBM's blazing lights as it ground its slow way through the stone ahead. Then you knew that a major tunnel like the Puketapu was a place of power, somehow; that darkness and danger lurked all around. When Liam dares his classmate Imogen to come on a forbidden tour of the railway tunnel being drilled through a nearby mountain, he hopes she’ll quit protesting about it damaging the environment — his dad is an engineer working on the tunnel, after all. Just as they reach the huge tunnelling machine everything goes horribly wrong. When the rocks stop falling and the dust settles, they are trapped, kilometres below ground, in the dark. Water is trickling in and beginning to rise. And nobody knows where they are. Can they stop arguing and start working together to escape before time runs out?

David Hill

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