Search results for ""astra publishing house""

Ideal for fans of Jack Prelutsky and Shel Silverstein, this collection of hilarious poems is perfect for any young reader who likes to read — and laugh!This funny poetry book is full of unusual characters: lots and lots of dragons, panda and pangolin musicians, mail-order eggs that hatch dinosaurs (surprise!), ten aliens with a garden-gnome pal, a robot uncle, and a professor who uses his Page Machine to travel to multiple pages within the book. Vikram Madan's ingenious poems take many forms, from limerick to rebus to a fill-in-the-blank poem that offers more than 13.8 billion funny combinations. All feature clever wordplay, impeccable rhythm and rhyme, and riotous punchlines. This is a quirky collection of poems that readers will laugh their way through again and again.

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Beloved Tiny Bear returns in this adorable board book that explores all the new things he can do with his body! All it takes is a friend to show him how. With fun flaps that reveal simple actions geared to toddler development, like jumping and standing on one leg, this sweet story is perfect for little ones widening their physical repertoire. The ever-adorable Tiny Bear (Hello, Tiny Bear!) returns, and now it’s time to jump, twist, and play with his friends. From kicking up his feet like a Monkey to wriggling on the floor like a Snake, Tiny Bear discovers all how he, too, can move his body. Tiny Bear Can, Too shows the fun in following physical cues and encourages toddlers to see what they can do, too!

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Little Lessons Popular sayings from around the world come to life in Seymour Chwast’s iconic and humorous design style, perfect for graduates and curious kids. “If you walk on thin ice, you might as well dance”—this and many other wise sayings from many countries take on a whole new dimension when Seymour Chwast’s pen delivers a memorable visual rendition. Life lessons have never been so amusing to think about and maybe even learn from. This colourful book is a perfect gift to spur laughter, learning, and cultural savoir faire for curious kids, graduates, or anyone starting a new chapter. Includes a brief and fascinating afterword explaining the history and staying power of these sayings around the world.

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In this fantastical picture book perfect for fans of Aaron Becker's Journey, a human child and a child from another planet discover that no matter where you live or what your books are like, reading�and sharing�are universal. A cosmic celebration of the joy of sharing books and having new experiences awaits readers in this captivating wordless picture book for ages 3 to 6. A child busy reading in a treehouse spots a family who seems to have just arrived on Earth for a picnic. The youngest member of the alien family holds a mind-bendingly strange object. Could it be a book from outer space? At the end of this gorgeously illustrated tale, each child returns home with a book from far away to remember a kind stranger. Sure to take its place among gently fantastical favorites like Sophie Blackall's If You Come to Earth and Carson Ellis's Du Iz Tak?, this picture book will enchant and delight curious kids and book lovers everywhere.

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Welcome to the show! Bienvenidos! This rags-to-riches tale of a doggy mother-daughter singing act in the Nuevo Wild West will enchant dog lovers, music lovers, and anyone looking for new Latinx voices. This spellbinding original story opens in a cantina crowded with desert animals, cowboys, and cowgirls all excited to see the glamorous Luna Ranchera mother-daughter singing duo. Long ago, Luna was down on her luck, starving and struggling to feed her pups, reduced to thieving from nearby ranchers. One day, escaping another heist, Luna has to hide in the worst possible place: on top of a beehive! She howls in pain so loudly, it carries all across the desert. It turns out Luna's musical wails are something special, captivating creatures far and wide. Her most rebellious pup, Ranchera, joins her, and soon the two become the famous howling singing act with the flea-bitten souls, Luna Ranchera! Immersive and unforgettable, with knockout, whimsical art, the tale ends with the lyrics to Luna Ranchera's most famous song. Perfect for fans of Coco and Soul.

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Making friends has never been so adventurous as in this hilarious tall tale from design legend Seymour Chwast! How far would you travel to find a friend? Whether you go to the South Pole to party with penguins, to the moon to have lunch with an astronaut, or high up a building to meet a window washer, bring a little gift, and all will go well. Award-winning graphic designer Seymour Chwast, co-founder of the legendary Push Pin Studios, takes us on a journey around the world (and off it!). And in the end, of course, it turns out you don't have to go far at all to find a friend.

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From the New York Times Book Review: "The unnamed narrator scrapes her knee. 'I cried like a baby,' she confesses. “It was like a scary movie with you-know-what dripping down my leg. I had never seen so much before. Blood. I said the word that really scares us kids.' How could you not immediately adore and trust this voice?"From three-time NYT Best Illustrated creator of On a Magical Do-Nothing Day comes a stunning picture book about a little girl, the scab on her knee, and the healing they do together.In this utterly enchanting and unexpected tale from international picture book star Beatrice Alemagna, a childhood mishap is the occasion for growth and self-reflection. When a little girl falls on the street, scraping her knee, her father tells her not to worry, that "a beautiful scab will form." But she does worry! The scab is not beautiful and it's keeping her from bending her knee! When will it ever go away? By the time the scab—who she has named Pepper—falls off, something astonishing has happened: the girl has come to feel affection for the scab and has a hard time letting go. With an unerring understanding of a child’s emotional life and a dash of absurdist wit, this picture book will stand with classics from creators like Tomi Ungerer and William Steig, who explore the weird, funny essence of childhood.

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In the third miniature picture book in the Hippo Park Pals series, perfect for little hands—Fiona needs help getting onto her swing, and brother Herbert helps out, like big brothers do.The fourth book in the adorable Hippo Park Pals series, real picture books--perfect for little hands!In the third Hippo Park Pals miniature book, Fiona is first to the swing set, but her swing is too high to reach! “Help me, please, Herbert,” she asks her brother. With his help, Fiona gets comfy in her swing, gets a big push–and up she goes! “Kick and tuck,” Herbert encourages! And she’s off! Herbert joins, too, and the siblings soar up to the sky (and over a beautiful rainbow) in their imaginations! Rilla Alexander’s hippo siblings, Fiona and Herbert, are adorable and kind! Her bold. bright colors and the social emotional messages in these precious books meet kids exactly where they are.

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What's cool, anyway? Skateboards, pizza, arcade games-and being kind! This buoyant young graphic chapter book introduces Duck and pals, kicking off a series that makes real-life friendship issues fun. Duck is feeling pretty good about himself. He can flip on a skateboard, and he's a great friend, too. Then Cat comes along and seems so cool, with his high scores on video games-but Cat also does some mean stuff nobody likes! Then Cat gets caught up a tree and needs help. In three short chapters, perfect for readers just gaining confidence, Duck and his pals show Cat that being cool includes helping others and not dissing your friends. Hippo Park graphic chapter books are ideal for beginning and newly independent readers, with approachable page counts, easy-to-follow paneling, and artwork that supports text comprehension.

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"You ate the story?" says one mouse to the other in this thoughtful, funny, and heartfelt read-aloud with pitch-perfect repartee and Barney Saltzberg's signature take on the perils and pleasures of creativity. Two mice-one big and one small-have a terrible problem in this satisfying comedic journey that parents and children will want to take together again and again. Little Mouse is looking for a story-they're in a book after all!-and Big Mouse has to admit the truth. The story is gone. And (gasp!) he ate it. That is not okay with Little Mouse, who expects his story and will settle for nothing less. What follows is an improvisational dialogue that showcases both the patience and discipline required of true creativity and the dazzling on-the-spot storytelling that can happen when you get in the flow. Parents, teachers, and kids alike will cheer for these heroic mice as they work out the kinks in their friendship and make the reader realize that they've been delivering a story all along.

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Will, an agender teen, struggles with the haunting aftermath of parental abuse as they forge a new life and love in this novel that is perfect for fans of If These Wings Could Fly and Last Night at the Telegraph Club. Will is a 17-year-old on the cusp of freedom: freedom from providing and caring for their abusive, addicted mother, freedom from their small town with an even smaller mindset, and the freedom from having to hide who they truly are. When their drug dealer mother dies months before their 18th birthday, Will is granted their freedom earlier than expected. But their mother's last words haunt Will: She cursed them with her dying breath, claiming her death was their fault. Soon their mother's drug-dealing past threatens Will's new shiny future, leaving Will scrambling to find their beloved former foster mother Raz before Child Protective Services or local drug dealers find them first. But how do you reconnect with family and embark on a new love when you're convinced you destroy everything you touch?

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In this powerful and deeply felt memoir of translation, storytelling and borders, Alejandra Oliva, a Mexican American translator and immigrant justice activist, offers a powerful chronical of her experience interpreting at the US-Mexico border.In Rivermouth, Oliva focuses on the physical spaces that make up different phases of immigration, looking at how language and opportunity move through each of them: from the river as the waterway that separates the US and Mexico, to the table as the place over which Oliva prepares asylum seekers for their Credible Fear Interviews and finally, to the wall as the behemoth imposition that runs along America's southernmost border.With lush prose and perceptive insight, Oliva encourages readers to approach the painful questions that this crisis poses with equal parts critique and compassion. By which metrics are we measuring who deserves American citizenship? What is the point of humanitarian systems that distribute aid condi

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"Leaping, chattering, dancing atop this conundrum [of global migration] comes the hero of Celina Baljeet Basra’s debut novel, Happy Singh Soni, his head bursting with ideas, his heart set on gargantuan dreams."—New York Times"Bighearted."—New York Times Book Review, Editor's Choice/Staff Pick★Publishers Weekly ★Bookpage ★BooklistIn a rural village of Punjab, India, a moony young man crouches over his phone in a rapeseed field near his family’s cabbage farm. His name is Happy Singh Soni, and he’s watching YouTube clips of his favorite film, Bande à Part by Jean-Luc Godard. In fact, Happy is often compared to a young Sami Frey by the imaginary journalists that keep him company while he uses the outhouse. Pooing, as he says, “en plein air.” When he’s not sleeping among the cabbages and eating his mother’s sugary rotis, Happy dreams of becoming an actor, one who plays the melancholy roles—sad, pretty boys, rare in Indian cinema. There are macho leads and funny boys en masse, but if you’re looking for depth and vulnerability, you must make your own heroes.Then comes Wonderland, an eccentric facsimile of Disneyland that steadily buys up the local farms, rebranding the community’s traditional way of life. Happy works a dead-end job at the amusement park, biding his time and saving money for a clandestine journey to Europe, where he’ll finally land a breakout role. Little does he know that his immigration is being coordinated by a transnational crime syndicate. After a nightmarish passage to Italy, Happy still manages to find relief in food and fantasy, even as he is forced into ever-worsening work conditions over a debt he allegedly accrued in transit. But his daydreams grow increasingly at odds with his bleak reality, one shared by so many migrant workers disenfranchised by the systems that depend on their labor.At turns funny and poetic, sunny and tragic, Happy is a daring feat of postmodern literature, a polyphonic novel about the urgent, lovely coping mechanisms created by generations of diasporic people. Set against the enmeshed crises of global migration and the politics of labor within the food industry, Celina Baljeet Basra’s luminous debut argues for the things that are essential to human survival: food, water, a place to lay one’s head, but also pleasure, romance, art, and the inalienable right to a vivid inner life.

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Now in paperback and with journaling prompts, an Economist Best Book of the Year hailed as "Touching, joyful, defiant—and honest,” celebrating African women’s unique journeys toward sexual pleasure and liberation in this newly updated empowering, subversive collection of intimate stories."Dazzling... the tone is hopeful, resilient and accepting. Marked by the diversity of experiences shared, the wealth of intimate details, and the total lack of sensationalism, this is an astonishing report on the quest for sexual liberation."—Publishers Weekly, Starred Review In these confessional pages, women control their own bodies and desires, work toward healing their painful pasts, and learn to assert their sexual power. Weaving a rich tapestry of experiences with a sex positive outlook, The Sex Lives of African Women is an empowering, subversive book that celebrates the liberation, individuality, and joy of African women's multifaceted sexuality. From a queer community in Egypt, to polyamorous life in Senegal, and a reflection on the intersection of religion and pleasure in Cameroon, feminist author Nana Darkoa Sekyiamah explores the many layers of love and desire, its expression, and how it defines who we are.Sekyiamah has spent decades talking openly and intimately to African women around the world about sex for her blog, “Adventures from the Bedrooms of African Women.” For this book she spoke to over 30 African women across the globe while chronicling her own journey toward sexual freedom.

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Xochitl Gonzalez's Olga Dies Dreaming meets Zoraida C�rdova's The Inheritance of Orqu�dea Divina in a debut novel by the author of Dreaming of You, following a fiery Guatemalan grandmother after a natural disaster brings about the end of the world as we know it. A deadly earthquake eerily similar to one in 1976 that left Guatemala in ruins leaves Massachusetts in shambles and sets off a global apocalypse. Strange creatures emerge from the earth's broken surface and begin to wreak havoc. An elderly Guatemalan grandmother named Candelaria Candy Garcia is determined to make her way to her estranged daughter Lucia, who is twenty miles out of the city in the suburbs. Taking place over the course of one day, Candelaria follows the 88-year-old grandmother's reflections on past mistakes and losses as she treks through charred roads and highways to get to her family.� A sweeping, mystical intergenerational novel about mothers and daughters, Candelaria explores the far reaches of historical trauma, how myths of the past can pre-determine one's present, and how one can strive to break those cycles and define one's own futures despite the looming end of the world.

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"Alejandro Varela is one of my favorite short story writers . . . An iconoclast of tenderness, a compass in the storm this life always is." —Alexander Chee, author of How to Write an Autobiographical Novel "The People Who Report More Stress dissects the minutiae of relationships to self, city, space, and sensibility so we don’t numbly succumb to the 'structured order of things.'"—Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore, author of The Freezer Door The People Who Report More Stress is a collection of interconnected stories brimming with the anxieties of people who retreat into themselves while living in the margins, acutely aware of the stresses that modern life takes upon the body and the body politic. In “Midtown-West Side Story,” Álvaro, a restaurant worker struggling to support his family, begins selling high-end designer clothes to his co-workers, friends, neighbors, and the restaurant’s regulars in preparation for a move to the suburbs. “The Man in 512” tracks Manny, the childcare worker for a Swedish family, as he observes the comings and goings of an affluent co-op building, all the while teaching the children Spanish through Selena’s music catalog. “Comrades” follows a queer man with radical politics who just ended a long-term relationship and is now on the hunt for a life partner. With little tolerance for political moderates, his series of speed dates devolve into awkward confrontations that leave him wondering if his approach is the correct one. A collection of humorous, sexy, and highly neurotic tales about parenting, long-term relationships, systemic and interpersonal racism, and class conflict from the author of The Town of Babylon, The People Who Report More Stress deftly and poignantly expresses the frustration of knowing the problems and solutions to our society’s inequities but being unable to do anything about them.

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In the tradition of Katy Tur, Jane Pauley, and Peter Jennings, Chai Jing shows us the power of television news and the complex challenges of reporting in China. After garnering an intimate cult following as a late-night college radio DJ, Chai Jing is thrust into the spotlight when she is offered a position as a news anchor at CCTV, China's official state news channel. She struggles to find her footing while discovering corruption, courage, and hope within the people she meets. Through an immediate and deeply personal narrative, Chai tells the stories of SARS quarantine wards, a teenage suicide cult, domestic violence, the consequences of industrial pollution, and workplace sexism, while examining her growth as a journalist. At times doubting her abilities and fighting through the challenges of a male-dominated workplace, Chai Jing returns time and again to the extraordinary stories of her interviewees, committed to sharing their voices. This candid memoir about overcoming government obstacles and finding success provides a rare window into how China has faced challenges like pollution, climate change, and unfair standards for women in the public eye.

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This colourful, sturdy board book features wipe-clean pages and a marker so preschoolers can practise writing their numbers 0 to 10 and solve age-appropriate Hidden Pictures puzzles, mazes and other fun activities over and over again. Learning numbers and counting are essential building blocks for future learning and Highlights brings "Fun with a Purpose" into these formative skills. The award-winning content blends number tracing and writing practice with number-themed puzzles and humour, which will help kids develop a lifelong love of learning - all in a take-along format perfect for learning on the go.

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Solve colorful My First Hidden Pictures puzzles by using the included dry-erase marker to find dozens of hidden objects in engaging, write-on, wipe-off scenes. This book contains more than 25 fun and colorful Hidden Pictures puzzles for the youngest puzzler along with bonus drawing and tracing activities, to do over and over with a dry-erase marker. Each puzzle is specially designed to help kids ages 3-6 develop visual perception and problem-solving skills, offering a unique and entertaining first-puzzling experience. Erase and puzzle again!

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EUREKA! Great things happen when science crosses history! Discover the all-true stories of your favorite inventions with this new multicultural STEM series that takes readers on a journey through time and around the world. A perfect choice for kids ages 4–8 who love to figure out how things work!Electric lights--without them, we'd be in the dark! Here is a "biography" of the light bulb, an essential invention that lights up our days and nights.From the first spark of Thomas Alva Edison's idea to the spread of electric lights around the world, Light Bulb is a fun and informative look at an invention that makes a huge difference in our lives. This STEAM nonfiction title is part of the new Eureka! series, each book covering one groundbreaking, world-changing discovery that millions of people use every single day.

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This irresistible book is packed with more than 100 favorite puzzles straight from our beloved magazine. Drawn in Highlights' classic black-and-white style, each puzzle is carefully designed to engage and entertain children while honing their concentration skills and attention to detail. With more than 1,200 objects to find, this book provides kids of all ages with hours of puzzling fun. A surefire hit with Hidden Pictures fans who just can't get enough!

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Now in paperback, the ninth novel of the bestselling Rivers of London urban fantasy series returns to the adventures of Peter Grant, detective and apprentice wizard, as he solves magical crimes in the city of London.There is a world hidden underneath this great city. The London Silver Vaults—for well over a century, the largest collection of silver for sale in the world. It has more locks than the Bank of England and more cameras than a paparazzi convention. Not somewhere you can murder someone and vanish without a trace—only that’s what happened. The disappearing act, the reports of a blinding flash of light, and memory loss amongst the witnesses all make this a case for Detective Constable Peter Grant and the Special Assessment Unit. Alongside their boss DCI Thomas Nightingale, the SAU find themselves embroiled in a mystery that encompasses London’s tangled history, foreign lands and, most terrifying of all, the North! And Peter must solve this case soon, because back home his partner Beverley is expecting twins any day now. But what he doesn’t know is that he’s about to encounter something—and somebody—that nobody ever expects… Effortlessly original, endlessly inventive and hugely entertaining—step into the world of the much-loved, bestselling Rivers of London series.

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The first book in a new romance epic fantasy trilogy, in which long-banished dragons, revered as gods, return to the mortal realm"In Dragonfall, Lam has forged a fresh and intricate world, a smoldering romance, and a fire-new take on dragons." —Samantha Shannon, New York Times-bestselling author of The Priory of the Orange Tree "What you will find here may be exactly what you love in fantasy: Dragonfall is an intriguing blend of magic, a thief, trickery, and an unexpected dragon." —Robin Hobb, New York Times-bestselling author of Fool’s Assassin "Dragonfall is a romance fantasy like you've never read before. A queer-norm world with new ways of telling tales, L. R. Lam is breaking boundaries and binaries yet again with a brilliant fantasy book that you won't want to miss." —Hannah Kaner, #1 Sunday Times-bestselling author of GodkillerLong ago, humans betrayed dragons, stealing their magic and banishing them to a dying world. Centuries later, their descendants worship dragons as gods. But the "gods" remember, and they do not forgive. Thief Arcady scrapes a living on the streets of Vatra. Desperate, Arcady steals a powerful artifact from the bones of the Plaguebringer, the most hated person in Lumet history. Only Arcady knows the artifact's magic holds the key to a new life among the nobles at court and a chance for revenge. The spell connects to Everen, the last male dragon foretold to save his kind, dragging him through the Veil. Disguised as a human, Everen soon learns that to regain his true power and form and fulfil his destiny, he only needs to convince one little thief to trust him enough to bond completely--body, mind, and soul—and then kill them.Yet the closer the two become, the greater the risk both their worlds will shatter.

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When the death of Iron Queen Sarelin Brey fractures the realm of Elira, Lysande Prior, the palace scholar and the queen's closest friend, is appointed Councillor. Publically, Lysande must choose the next monarch from amongst the city-rulers vying for the throne - including the mysterious prince Luca Fontaine, who seems to shift between ally and rival. Privately, she seeks to discover which ruler murdered the queen, suspecting the use of magic. Far from this, the White Queen is stirring and her ally - a traitor among the royal milieu - threatens the entire realm.

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The twenty-first book in the beloved Foreigner saga continues the adventures of diplomat Bren Cameron, advisor to the atevi head of state.The overthrow of the atevi head of state, Tabini-aiji, and the several moves of enemies even since his restoration, have prompted major changes in the Assassins' Guild, which has since worked to root out its seditious elements—a clandestine group they call the Shadow Guild. With the Assassins now rid of internal corruption, with the birth of Tabini's second child, and with the appointment of an heir, stability seems to have returned to the atevi world. Humans and atevi share the space station in peaceful cooperation, humans and atevi share the planet as they have for centuries, and the humans' island enclave is preparing to welcome 5000 human refugees from a remote station now dismantled, and to do that in unprecedented cooperation with the atevi mainland. In general Bren Cameron, Tabini-aiji's personal representative, returning home to the atevi capital after securing that critical agreement, was ready to take a well-earned rest—until Tabini's grandmother claimed his services on a train trip to the smallest, most remote and least significant of the provinces, snowy Hasjuran—a move concerning which Tabini-aiji gave Bren a private instruction: protect her. Advise her. Advise her—perhaps. As for protection, she has a trainload of high-level Guild. But since the aiji-dowager has also invited a dangerously independent young warlord, Machigi, and a young man who may be the heir to Ajuri, a key northern province—the natural question is why the dowager is taking this ill-assorted pair to Hasjuran and what on this earth she may be up to. With a Shadow Guild attack on the train station, it has become clear that others have questions, too. Hasjuran, on its mountain height, overlooks the Marid, a district that is part of the atevi nation only in name—a district in which Machigi is one major player, and where the Shadow Guild retains a major stronghold. Protect her? Ilisidi is hellbent on settling scores with the Shadow Guild, and her reasons for this trip and this company now become clear. One human diplomat and his own bodyguard suddenly seem a very small force to defend her from what she is setting in motion.

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Discover #1 New York Times-bestselling Patrick Rothfuss’ epic fantasy series, The Kingkiller Chronicle. “I just love the world of Patrick Rothfuss.” —Lin-Manuel Miranda OVER 1 MILLION COPIES SOLD! DAY ONE: THE NAME OF THE WIND My name is Kvothe. I have stolen princesses back from sleeping barrow kings. I burned down the town of Trebon. I have spent the night with Felurian and left with both my sanity and my life. I was expelled from the University at a younger age than most people are allowed in. I tread paths by moonlight that others fear to speak of during day. I have talked to Gods, loved women, and written songs that make the minstrels weep. You may have heard of me. So begins a tale unequaled in fantasy literature—the story of a hero told in his own voice. It is a tale of sorrow, a tale of survival, a tale of one man’s search for meaning in his universe, and how that search, and the indomitable will that drove it, gave birth to a legend.

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Magic, danger, and adventure abound for messenger Karigan G'ladheon in the fifth book in Kristen Britain's New York Times-bestselling Green Rider fantasy series Karigan G’ladheon is a Green Rider—a seasoned member of the elite messenger corps of King Zachary of Sacoridia. King Zachary sends Karigan and a contingent of Sacoridians beyond the edges of his nation, into the mysterious Blackveil Forest, which has been tainted with dark magic by a twisted immortal spirit named Mornhavon the Black.In a magical confrontation against Mornhavon, Karigan is jolted out of Blackveil Forest and wakes in darkness. She’s lying on smooth, cold stone, but as she reaches out, she realizes that the stone is not just beneath her, but above and around her as well. She’s landed in a sealed stone sarcophagus, some unknown tomb, and the air is becoming thin. Is this to be her end? If she escapes, where will she find herself? Is she still in the world she remembers, or has the magical explosion transported her somewhere completely different? To find out, she must first win free of her prison— before it becomes her grave. And should she succeed, will she be walking straight into a trap created by Mornhavon himself?

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Good Night, Planet: TOON Level 2 (TOON into Reading) What happens while you're sleeping?... Your toys go out to play! After a long day of jumping in leaves and reading her favourite books, this little girl is worn out, but her favourite stuffed animal, Planet, is just getting started. Planet befriends a dog, gobbles a cookie, and takes a leap into the unknown. This tender, gorgeous tale by the internationally renowned cartoonist Liniers will reveal to early readers the wonders that exist at night, in secret, after they close their eyes.

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Join a young explorer and his best friend, Mouse, on a sea journey to Antarctica, where they make new friends with penguins and a whale – and have all kinds of fun. Young readers won’t stop grinning as they’re swept away by the strange and magical world created by Frank Viva, the bestselling author of Along a Long Road. As kids TOON into Reading, they will want to circle back to the beginning – again and again.

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Astra Magazine is the new literary magazine of the moment, a must-read for anyone interested in the most vital contemporary literature from around the world. Astra Magazine connects readers and writers from New York to Mexico City, Lagos to Berlin, Copenhagen to Singapore and beyond around a unified aesthetic that highlights the luxurious pleasures of reading. Each issue contains prose, poetry, art and comics, artfully produced on silky smooth paper with luxurious French flaps. The Ecstasy Issue contains work by Mieko Kawakami, Fernanda Melchor, Catherine Lacey, Leslie Jamison, Solmaz Sharif, Terrance Hayes, Don Mee Choi, Ada Limón, Chinelo Okparanta, Sayaka Murata, Katharina Volckmer, Kate Zambreno, and many more.

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"A powerful case for limitarianism—the idea that we should set a maximum on how much resources one individual can appropriate. A must-read!" —Thomas Piketty, bestselling author of Capital in the Twenty-First CenturyAn original, bold, and convincing argument for a cap on wealth by the philosopher who coined the term "limitarianism."How much money is too much? Is it ethical, and democratic, for an individual to amass a limitless amount of wealth, and then spend it however they choose? Many of us feel that the answer to that is no—but what can we do about it?Ingrid Robeyns has long written and argued for the principle she calls "limitarianism"—or the need to limit extreme wealth. This idea is gaining momentum in the mainstream – with calls to "tax the rich" and slogans like "every billionaire is a policy failure"—but what does it mean in practice?Robeyns explains the key reasons to support the case against extreme wealth: It keeps the poor poor and inequalities growing It’s often dirty money It undermines democracy It’s one of the leading causes of climate change Nobody actually deserves to be a millionaire There are better things to do with excess money The rich will benefit, too This will be the first authoritative trade book to unpack the concept of a cap on wealth, where to draw the line, how to collect the excess and what to do with the money. In the process, Robeyns will ignite an urgent debate about wealth, one that calls into question the very forces we live by (capitalism and neoliberalism) and invites us to a radical reimagining of our world.

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Wild Dances: My Queer and Curious Journey to Eurovision For fans of Crying in H Mart and Priest-daddy; How a misunderstood queer biracial kid in small-town Georgia became a Eurovision Song Contest commentator; A memoir combining race, glitz, glamour, geopolitics, and the power of pop music. As a boy, William Lee Adams spent his days taking care of his quadriplegic brother, worrying about his undiagnosed bipolar Vietnamese mother, and steering clear of his openly racist and homophobic father. Too shy and anxious to even peak until he was six years old, it seemed unlikely William would ever leave small-town Georgia. He passed the time alone in his room, studying maps and reading encyclopaedias, dreaming of distant places where he might one day feel free. In time, William discovered that learning was both a refuge and a ticket out. So even as he struggled to understand and to get others to accept both his sexuality and his biracial identity, William focused on his schoolwork, his extracurriculars, and building community with the students and teachers who embraced him for who he truly was. Though his scholarship to Harvard parachuted him into a whole new world, he still carried a lifetime of secrets and unanswered questions that would haunt him no matter how far he travelled. Years later, as a journalist in London, William discovered the Eurovision Song Contest―an annual competition known for its extravagant performers and cutthroat politics. Initially just a fan, he started blogging about the contest, ultimately becoming the most sought-after expert on the subject. From Albania, Finland, and Ukraine, to Israel, Sweden, and Russia, William was soon jetting across the Continent to meet divas, drag queens, and aspiring singers, who welcomed him to their beautiful, if dysfunctional, family of choice. An uplifting memoir about glitz, glamour, geopolitics, and finding your people, no matter how far you must travel, Wild Dances celebrates the power of pop music to help us heal and forgive.

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Like Gary Shteyngart or Michel Houellebecq, Wang Xiaobo is a Chinese literary icon whose satire forces us to reconsider the ironies of history. Apparently, there was a rumour that Chen Qingyang and I were having an affair. She wanted me to prove our innocence. I said, to prove our innocence, we must prove one of the following: Chen Qingyang is a virgin I was born without a penis Both propositions were hard to prove, therefore, we couldn’t prove our innocence. In fact, I was leaning more toward proving that we weren’t innocent.” And so begins Wang Er’s story of his long affair with Chen Qinyang. Wang Er, a 21-year-old ox herder, is shamed by the local authorities and forced to write a confession for his crimes but instead, takes it upon himself to write a modernist literary tract. Later, as a lecturer at a chaotic, newly built university, Wang Er navigates the bureaucratic maze of 1980’s China, boldly writing about the Cultural Revolution’s impact on his life and those around him. Finally, alone, and humbled, Wang Er must come to terms with the banality of his own existence. But what makes this novel both hilarious and important is Xiaobo’s use of the awkwardness of sex as a metaphor for all that occurred during the Cultural Revolution. This achievement was revolutionary in China and places Golden Age in the great pantheon of novels that argue against governmental control. A leading icon of his generation, Wang Xiaobo’s cerebral and sarcastic narrative is a reflection on the failures of individuals and the enormous political, social, and personal changes in 20thcentury China. "At the time Wang was writing, novels about the Cultural Revolution tended to be fairly conventional tales of how good people suffered nobly during this decade of madness. The system itself was rarely called into question. Wang’s book was radically different . . . The idea of how to stand up to power underlies Golden Age." —Ian Johnson, The New York Times Book Review

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An instant New York Times, USA Today and Indie Bestseller!#1 New York Times-bestselling phenomenon Patrick Rothfuss returns to the wildly popular Kingkiller Chronicle universe with a stunning reimagining of "The Lightning Tree." Expanded to twice its previous length and lavishly illustrated by Nate Taylor, this touching stand-alone story is sure to please new readers and veteran Rothfuss fans alike.Bast knows how to bargain. The give-and-take of a negotiation is as familiar to him as the in-and-out of breathing; to watch him trade is to watch an artist at work. But even a master's brush can slip. When he accepts a gift, taking something for nothing, Bast's whole world is knocked askew, for he knows how to bargain—but not how to owe. From dawn to midnight over the course of a single day, follow the Kingkiller Chronicle's most charming fae as he schemes and sneaks, dancing into trouble and back out again with uncanny grace.The Narrow Road Between Desires is Bast's story. In it he traces the old ways of making and breaking, following his heart even when doing so goes against his better judgement.After all, what good is caution if it keeps him from danger and delight?

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Human civilisation didn't just fall. It was pushed. The Krakau came to Earth in the year 2014. By 2015, humanity had been reduced to shambling, feral monsters. In the Krakau's defense, it was an accident, and a century later, they did come back and try to fix us. Sort of. But whe Mops and her rogue cleaning crew learns of a secret Krakau laboratory on Earth, they will have to do the one thing she fears most: return to Earth, a world overrun by feral apes, wild dogs, savage humans, and worse.

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Now in paperback, the third and final book of the Janitors of the Post-Apocalypse follows a group of unlikely heroes trying to save the galaxy from a zombie plague. Marion Mops Adamopoulos and her team were trained to clean spaceships. They were absolutely not trained to fight an interplanetary war with the xenocidal Prodryans or to make first contact with the Jynx, a race who might not be as primitive as they seem. But if there's one lesson Mops and her crew have learned, it's that things like training and being remotely qualified are overrated. The war is escalating. (This might be Mops' fault.) The survival of humanity�those few who weren't turned to feral, shambling monsters by an alien plague�as well as the fate of all other non-Prodryans, will depend on what Captain Mops and the crew of the EDFS Pufferfish discover on the ringed planet of Tuxatl. But the Jynx on Tuxatl are fighting a war of their own, and their world's long-buried secrets could be more dangerous than the Prodryans. To make matters worse, Mops is starting to feel a little feral herself�

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For fans of Stuart Little and Poppy, here is a middle-grade adventure in which a mouse and a shrew, lost at sea, try to navigate to their home in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Braving multiple dangers, they discover they have more in common than they could ever have imagined. Mr. Popli, the mouse mayor of Garbage Island, is always at odds with Archibald Shrew, a brilliant but reckless inventor. When Garbage Island splits apart, they're trapped together in Mr. Popli's houseboat, desperate to find their way home. At first, they only argue, but when they face a perilous thunderstorm and a series of predators, they begin to work together and recognize--in themselves and in each other--strengths they didn't know they had. Nonstop action and deep emotion intertwine in this tale of opposites who discover that with bravery, creativity, and friendship, they can triumph.

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What would happen if people all around the world stayed inside, away from animals' habitats? Twelve fascinating real-life stories of creatures around the globe who reclaimed their habitat during the COVID-19 quarantine show animal lovers and aspiring citizen scientists how to help wildlife by fighting habitat loss. With the skies, roads, and waterways clear and quiet during the COVID-19 pandemic, the natural world seemed to return to an earlier, wilder state. Animals crossed boundaries that people had set over centuries, reclaiming ancient habitats. From sea lions who clambered into a parking lot in Argentina to deer who wandered in a Japanese subway to lions lounging in the middle of South African roads to kangaroos who bounced through a shopping district in Australia, this thoroughly researched, stunningly illustrated book tells the stories of these newly footloose creatures -- and describes what the COVID-19 "pause" taught scientists about how ecosystems and wildlife can rebound if the right environmental conditions are achieved.

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Hans Christian Andersen Medalist Robert Ingpen brings classic stories to life in a collection that serves as his magnum opus to the imagination. Featured in New York Times Book Review "8 Picture Books About Books"World-renowned illustrator Robert Ingpen begins his magical journey through the world of classic children's stories with a mural he worked on for years, inspired by the great storybook characters. The original mural is more than 20 feet long, but Mr. Ingpen knew he had to find a way to turn that work into a book in its own right. This book contains some of his favorite quotations from the stories that inspired him, as well as an eye-popping fold-out centerpiece with a reproduction of the full mural. This book is an eye-popping illustrated celebration of the power of imagination.

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A New York Times 2021 Best Children's BookThis heartwarming family story from acclaimed author-illustrator Dan Yaccarino features a father and his kids who are stuck inside the house together — and figure out how to connect and overcome conflict. No one knew where the strange storm came from, or why it lasted so long. The family at the center of this timely story has to hunker down together, with no going outside - and that's hard when there's absolutely nothing to do, and everyone's getting on everyone else's nerves. This classic in the making will lift hearts with its optimistic vision of a family figuring out how to love and support one another, even when it seems impossible.

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A literary debut subverting classic sci-fi tropes set in gentrified Chicago, Silicon Valley, and across the vastness of the cosmos. From the streets of gentrified Chicago, to the tech boom corridors of Silicon Valley, This Weightless World follows a revolving cast of characters after alien contact upends their lives. We are introduced to Sevi, a burned-out music teacher desperate for connection; Ramona, his on-again, off-again computer programmer girlfriend; and Sevi’s cello protégé Eason, struggling with the closure of his high school; after a mysterious signal arrives from outer space. When the signal—at first seen as a sign of hope—stops as abruptly as it started, they are all forced to reckon with its aftermath. In San Francisco, Sevi fights to find meaning in rekindled love; and Ramona–determined to build an AI to prevent mankind’s self-destruction–begins to feel the weight of past mistakes. And in Chicago, Eason measures his commitment to an estranged childhood friend against the chance of escaping neighborhood troubles. A dazzling deconstruction of science-fiction tropes, This Weightless World looks to the past for a vision of the future. "It's precisely Soto's refusal to be 'weighted' down by decades of genre tradition, to instead turn the trope on its head and in doing so remind us that no-one but ourselves is coming to save us, that makes This Weightless World such an exciting and radical novel." —Ian Monde, Locus "Set in Silicon Valley and Chicago, This Weightless World considers questions of morality in a world where people feel powerless in the face of formidable systemic forces." —Laura Adamczyk, A.V. Club

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