Tom Stechschulte
1) The road
Author
Language
English
Description
America is a barren landscape of smoldering ashes, devoid of life except for those people still struggling to scratch out some type of existence. Amidst the destruction, a father and his young son walk, always toward the coast, but with no real understanding that circumstances will improve once they arrive. Still they persevere, and their relationship comes to represent goodness in a world that is utterly devastated.
Author
Series
Language
English
Description
Beep! Beep! Beep! Meet Blue. A muddy country road is no match for this little pick up -- that is, until he gets stuck while pushing a dump truck out of the muck. Luckily, Blue has made a pack of farm animal friends along his route. And they're willing to do whatever it takes to get their pal back on the road. Filled with truck sounds and animals noises, here is a rollicking homage to the power of friendship and the rewards of helping others.
Author
Publisher
Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Pub. Date
2007
Language
English
Appears on list
Formats
Description
When Llewelyn Moss stumbles upon a group of murdered men, a stash of heroin, and more than $2 million in cash, he makes a rash decision and takes the money, which soon puts himself and his young wife in danger as they are hunted by a ruthless drug lord.
6) The returned
Author
Publisher
Harlequin
Pub. Date
2014
Language
English
Formats
Description
When their son Jacob, who died tragically at his eighth birthday party in 1966, arrives on their doorstep, still eight years old, Harold and Lucille Hargrave must navigate a strange new reality as chaos erupts around the world as people's loved ones are returned from beyond.
Author
Language
English
Description
Living in rural Virginia, ten-year-old Jess and Leslie become special friends as they create a magical secret world that they call Terabithia. But when a tragic accident causes Leslie's death during a storm, Jess is forced to face life alone.
"This Newbery Medal-winning novel by bestselling-author Katherine Paterson has been a modern classic about friendship and loss for forty years. Jess Aarons has been practicing all summer so he can be the fastest...
Author
Language
English
Formats
Description
A classic work of American literature that has not stopped changing minds and lives since it burst onto the literary scene, The Things They Carried is a ground-breaking meditation on war, memory, imagination, and the redemptive power of storytelling.
The Things They Carried depicts the men of Alpha Company: Jimmy Cross, Henry Dobbins, Rat Kiley, Mitchell Sanders, Norman Bowker, Kiowa, and the character Tim O'Brien, who has
9) In the fall
Author
Language
English
Appears on these lists
Book Chat March 11: Drive
Book Chat: January 18: Bootleggers, Scotch and Whiskey
VT Authors: Fiction-Adult
Book Chat: January 18: Bootleggers, Scotch and Whiskey
VT Authors: Fiction-Adult
Formats
Description
An interracial relationship between a Union soldier from Vermont and a runaway slave at the end of the Civil War initiates a haunting family legacy of war, racism, and secrets that follows three generations from the end of the Civil War to the Great Depression.
10) Plainsong
Author
Series
Language
English
Appears on list
Formats
Description
Ambitious, but never seeming so, Kent Haruf reveals a whole community as he interweaves the stories of a pregnant high school girl, a lonely teacher, a pair of boys abandoned by their mother, and a couple of crusty bachelor farmers. From simple elements, Haruf achieves a novel of wisdom and grace--a narrative that builds in strength and feeling until, as in a choral chant, the voices in the book surround, transport, and lift the reader off the ground....
11) Rifles for Watie
Author
Publisher
HarperCollins
Pub. Date
2015
Language
English
Formats
Description
Recounts the struggles and hardships faced by Jeff Bussey on his 300-mile escape route during the Civil War.
Author
Publisher
Random House Publishing Group
Pub. Date
2011
Language
English
Formats
Description
Presents a meditation on coping with the loss of an animal who has enriched one's life, sharing observations on the ways in which people grieve for their pets, related philosophical questions, and the process of letting go.
13) Child of God
Author
Publisher
Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Pub. Date
2010
Language
English
Formats
Description
Lester Ballard, always an outsider in his East Tennessee community, descends into a world of murder, madness, and necrophilia after the forced sale of his property and a false accusation of rape.
Author
Language
English
Formats
Description
A New York Times Bestselling Author In the spring of 2011, Jon Katz received a phone call from an animal control officer who had found a neglected donkey on a farm in upstate New York. She hoped that Jon and his wife, Maria, would be willing to adopt him. The wrenching sight of Simon touched something very deep inside of Jon, and they took him in. The donkey's care was far from easy. And, as if in reciprocation, Simon began to reveal to Jon the true...
15) Murder game
Author
Series
Ghostwalkers volume 7
Publisher
Penguin Publishing Group
Pub. Date
2008
Language
English
Formats
Description
Kadan Montague--a genetically enhanced warrior--is called back from an important assignment in Europe to investigate a series of brutal murders. The suspect is a fellow GhostWalker and, if he isn't found, the entire GhostWalker program will be swept under the carpet, putting the lives of Kadan and all other GhostWalkers in jeopardy.
16) The bird saviors
Author
Publisher
Unbridled Books
Pub. Date
2012
Language
English
Formats
Description
When a dust storm engulfs her Colorado town and pink snow blankets the streets, a heartbreaking decision faces Ruby Cole, a girl who counts birds: She must abandon her baby or give in to her father, whom she nicknames Lord God, and marry a man more than twice her age who already has two wives. She chooses to run, which sets in motion an interlocking series of actions and reactions, upending the lives of an equestrian police officer, pawnshop riffraff,...
17) Carnal innocence
Author
Publisher
Random House Publishing Group
Pub. Date
2009
Language
English
Formats
Description
Violinist Caroline Waverly has traveled to her grandmother's house to try and sort out her life and recover from a broken heart, and when she meets and falls inlove with Tucker Longstreet, she thinks her life may be turning around, but when four women are brutally murdered and Tucker is the only suspect, Caroline must decide whether to trust her heart or her head.
Author
Publisher
Penguin Publishing Group
Pub. Date
2015
Language
English
Formats
Description
Examines the economics and culture surrounding college football, discussing how in the last decade football programs have overtaken universities, creating entertainment factories where sports are more important than education.
Author
Language
English
Description
"Anna is not sick, but she might as well be. By age thirteen, she has undergone countless surgeries, transfusions, and shots so that her older sister, Kate, can somehow fight the leukemia that has plagued her since childhood. The product of preimplantation genetic diagnosis, Anna was conceived as a bone marrow match for Kate -- a life and a role that she has never challenged...until now. Like most teenagers, Anna is beginning to question who she truly...
20) Street game
Author
Series
Publisher
Penguin Publishing Group
Pub. Date
2009
Language
English
Formats
Description
"For Mack McKinley and his team of GhostWalker killing machines, urban warfare is an art form. But despite a hard-won knowledge of the San Francisco streets, Mack knows from experience that too many things can still go wrong. Danger is just another part of the game--and he's come face-to-face with a woman who can play just as tough. She's Jamie, a woman with a sapphire stare so potent it can destroy a man. Years ago she and Mack had a connection--volatile,...