Comedian and star of The Office and Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt Ellie Kemper delivers a hilarious, refreshing, and inspiring collection of essays “teeming with energy and full of laugh-out-loud moments” (Associated Press). “A pleasure. Ellie Kemper is the kind of stable, intelligent, funny, healthy woman that usually only exists in yogurt commercials. But she’s real and she’s all ours!” —Tina Fey “Ellie is a hilarious and talented writer, although we’ll never know how much of this book the squirrel wrote.”—Mindy Kaling Meet Ellie, the best-intentioned redhead next door. You’ll laugh right alongside her as she shares tales of her childhood in St. Louis, whether directing and also starring in her family holiday pageant, washing her dad’s car with a Brillo pad, failing to become friends with a plump squirrel in her backyard, eating her feelings while watching PG-13 movies, or becoming a “sports monster” who ends up warming the bench of her Division 1 field hockey team in college. You’ll learn how she found her comedic calling in the world of improv, became a wife, mother and New Yorker, and landed the role of a bridesmaid (while simultaneously being a bridesmaid) in Bridesmaids. You’ll get to know and love the comic, upbeat, perpetually polite actress playing Erin Hannon on The Office, and the exuberant, pink-pants-wearing star of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. If you’ve ever been curious about what happens behind the scenes of your favorite shows, what it really takes to be a soul cycle “warrior,” how to recover if you accidentally fall on Doris Kearns Goodwin or tell Tina Fey on meeting her for the first time that she has “great hair—really strong and thick,” this is your chance to find out. But it’s also a laugh-out-loud primer on how to keep a positive outlook in a world gone mad and how not to give up on your dreams. Ellie “dives fully into each role—as actor, comedian, writer, and also wife and new mom—with an electric dedication, by which one learns to reframe the picture, and if not exactly become a glass-half-full sort of person, at least become able to appreciate them” (Vogue.com).

Sometimes it just feels good being bad... A tale of intrigue, revenge and excess, perfect for fans of Tasmina Perry.

A heartwarming story about the power of friendship, kindness, empathy & cooperation. Ellie and Lou - The Meaning of Friendship is a tale that will warm the hearts of young readers, parents & educators. It is an inspirational children's book about the power of kindness, compassion, and the rewards of helping others. It shows how any act of kindness can make a difference in someone's life. And it does so through the journey of two elephants. Ellie and Lou - mom and daughter elephants - got separated from their herd and are extremely hungry, but Ellie is determined to make things better. When they were almost losing all hope, they found an old friend, a kind gorilla named Sam. With his help and the help of newfound friends, they overcome their challenges. A book to start meaningful conversations This meaningful story reminds us to be kind and to help our friends in need. With beautiful illustrations and a moving story, this warm-hearted book gets at the essence of how to help children be more compassionate - by teaching them the importance of being a sympathetic friend. A touching short story that opens a dialogue about resilience, life experiences, the importance of friendship, and the chance to make a positive change in the world. A gentle reminder that kindness, compassion, and friendship matter. Whether you are offering a helping hand or a friendly smile, you can make a difference in someone's life. Searching for kindness and friendship books for children? Ellie and Lou will help encourage your children and students to offer kindness and empathy to others and to be a good friend. Young readers will learn the importance of treating others with kindness and compassion. Children will discover ways to implement traditional values of friendship, empathy, cooperation. It will sit comfortably on your shelf alongside other books that focus on emotions, like the work of Pat Zietlow Miller and Jen Hill (Be Kind), Jacqueline Woodson (The Day you Begin), Alice Schertle (Little Blue Truck), and Grace Byers (I am enough). An excellent choice for young readers, this picture book is perfect for: Early readers, ages 3-8 Storytime or anything sharing. Reading out loud at home or in a classroom. Starting conversations with children about kindness, friendship, sympathy, and resilience. Follow Ellie & Lou, Sam the gorilla and the other animals in the jungle on their journey. Along with Ellie and Lou, your child can learn the importance of empathy, kindness, and cooperation. Parents and educators can find free resources to accompany this book at https: //kianasosa.com/resources

Hootie Lou lost all of his letters! Can you help him get them back? "When you hear the words, "HOOTIE HOO", they might come back if you say them too!HOOTIE HOO!"Hootie Lou is a fun rhyming interactive story for all readers, but especially those who are learning and just LOVE their ABCs!Children and parents who love The Wonky Donkey, Chica Chica Boom Boom, and anything by Dr. Seuss and Mo Willems will instantly connect with Hootie Lou!

A Black immortal in 1930's Los Angeles must recover the memory of her past in order to discover who she truly is in this extraordinarily affecting novel for readers of N. K. Jemisin and Octavia E. Butler. Lou, a young Black woman, wakes up in an alley in 1930s Los Angeles with no memory of how she got there or where she’s from. Taken in by a caring foster family, Lou dedicates herself to her education while trying to put her mysterious origins behind her. She’ll go on to become the first Black female journalist at the Los Angeles Times, but Lou’s extraordinary life is about to take an even more remarkable turn. When she befriends a firefighter at a downtown boxing gym, Lou is shocked to realize that though she has no memory of meeting him, she’s been drawing his face for years. Increasingly certain that their paths previously crossed—and beset by unexplainable flashes from different eras haunting her dreams—Lou begins to believe she may be an immortal sent here for a very important reason, one that only others like her can explain. Setting out to investigate the mystery of her existence, Lou must make sense of the jumble of lifetimes calling to her, just as new forces threaten the existence of those around her. Immersed in the rich historical tapestry of Los Angeles—Prohibition, the creation of Route 66, and the collapse of the St. Francis Dam—The Perishing is a stunning examination of love and justice through the eyes of one miraculous woman whose fate seems linked to the city she comes to call home.

It starts with just watching. But danger emerges when Just Watching ends. When the "wild child" Xavier first encounters Cass Hardwood and her dogs in the woods of West Quebec, he is enthralled. Unknown to them, he just watches them in a lengthy ongoing surveillance, before finally staging a meeting. His motives are uncertain-even to him. The intersection of the lives of Cass, a competitive dog handler, her dogs, her cousin Lori and the complex and enigmatic Xavier, leads them all into a spiral of danger. It starts when just watching ends-when Cass and her crew encounter tragedy in the bush. Xavier's involvement in the tragedy, unknown to Cass, sets off a chain of potentially lethal events that begin in the dark woods of Lac Rouge, when hiking, skiing, hunting, trapping, marijuana grow-ops, and pedophilia collide. It matures in the suburbs of both Ottawa and Baltimore, and culminates back in Lac Rouge, when Lori's spurned and abusive lover arrives uninvited at Cass' isolated cabin in the woods. In the night. In the cold. In the heavily falling snow. His arrival is observed by Xavier, whose motives are again uncertain, but whose propensity for action is not. Join Xavier, Lori, Cass and the realistic and compelling dogs that are essential players in this dark drama as their fates converge in a deadly loop of fear, guilt, and hope.