Central Skagit Library District

"It was a beautiful, breezy, yellow-and-green afternoon." This is the way Abby Whitshank always begins the story of how she fell in love with Red that day in July 1959. The whole family--their two daughters and two sons, their grandchildren, even their faithful old dog--is on the porch, listening contentedly as Abby tells the tale they have heard so many times before. And yet this gathering is different too: Abby and Red are growing older, and decisions...

"Out in the desert in a place called the Palace, a young man to a dying soul, someone he once knew briefly but who has haunted the edges of his life: Juan Gay. Playful raconteur, child lost and found and lost, guardian of the institutionalized, Juan has a project to pass along, one built around a true artifact of a book--Sex Variants: A Study of Homosexual Patterns--and its devastating history. The book contains accounts collected in the early twentieth...

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A REESE'S BOOK CLUB PICK

In this beautiful and moving novel about family, love, and growing up, Ann Patchett once again proves herself one of America's finest writers.

"Patchett leads us to a truth that feels like life rather than literature." —The Guardian

In the spring of 2020, Lara's three daughters return to the family's orchard in

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Jack reluctantly goes along with a bossy narrator by trading his beloved cow for magic beans, throwing them out the window, climbing an enormous stalk, and stealing from a giant before he decides that the fairy tale is getting out of hand and takes charge of the story for himself.

Death tells the story of a young German girl, Liesel, whose book-stealing and story-telling talents during World War II help sustain her family and the Jewish man they are hiding, as well as their neighbors.

A boy who wants to write a story like his big sister learns that every story begins with a single letter or word.

Alex's original hair-raising tales are the only thing keeping the witch Natacha happy, but soon he'll run out of pages to read from and be trapped forever. He's loved scary stories his whole life, and he knows most don't have a happily ever after. Now that Alex is trapped in a true terrifying tale, he's desperate for a different ending--and a way out of this twisted place. This modern spin on the Scheherazade story is perfect for fans of Coraline...

Children love to make up stories, and these 40 creative projects and activities encourage them to free their storytelling instincts. Younger children will love making story stones and a storytelling jar, and then will love using them to create stories of their own, while older kids will enjoy word grab bags, story walks, and journaling exercises. For everyone ages 5 to 12, whatever their reading level, this book has everything needed to spark an infinite...

Hollywood is in the business of selling stories. And those stories generate over $10 billion each year. Think what you could do with your own writing if you knew the secrets behind writing stories that people want to buy. Think what a nice living you could make from your writing if you knew those secrets. It doesn't matter if you are writing a novel, a short story, a feature film, TV, a live stage show, or video game script. Nor does it matter what...

There are a million YouTube videos available for learning technical skills, but those skills are meaningless if you don't know how to assemble a compelling story. "You Gotta See This!" doesn't just offer up Paul Steven Forrest's best tips and tricks for making better videos, but this book delivers practical direction and tested techniques for more effective storytelling through all visual formats. His passion for sharing his vast experience in unscripted...