Swamplandia! Michigan Library Association Thumbs Up! Award Nominee (2004) best friend Susie persuades Lara

best friend Susie persuades Lara to head to the Big Apple for a festive trip

is a lively picture of how the general affected the individual

Orphaned Jane Eyre grows up in the home of her heartless aunt and later attends a charity school with a harsh regime

begins to feel worthless

Owens's debut novel reminds us that we are forever shaped by the child within us

Swamplandia! Michigan Library Association Thumbs Up! Award Nominee (2004) best friend Susie persuades LaraThe Bigtree alligator wrestling dynasty is in declinethink Buddenbrooks set in the Florida Evergladesand Swamplandia!, their island home and gator wrestling theme park, is swiftly being encroached upon by a sophisticated competitor known as the "World of Darkness." Ava, a resourceful but terrified twelve year old, must manage seventy gators and the vast, inscrutable landscape of her own grief. Her mother, Swamplandia!s legendary headliner, has just