Wednesday, September 5, 1973: The first day of Karl Shoemaker's senior year in stifling Lightsburg, Ohio. For years, Karl's been part of what he calls "the Madman Underground" - a group of kids forced (for no apparent reason) to attend group therapy during school hours. Karl has decided that senior year is going to be different. He is going to get out of the Madman Underground for good. He is going to act - and be - Normal. But Normal, of course, is relative. Karl has five after-school jobs, one dead father, one seriously unhinged drunk mother . . . and a huge attitude. Welcome to a gritty, uncensored rollercoaster ride, narrated by the singular Karl Shoemaker.

Several thousand people travel on the London underground daily where life is fully representative of the cosmopolitan nature and the diversity of everyday London. In Tales of the Underground, author Olayemi Karim offers a guide to help people understand the nuances and the cultural peculiarities of traveling in the city. Olayemi, who commutes daily to the city for her job, began documenting the interesting experiences of her travels on the rails on both her Facebook page and blog. She records the unspoken rules and the expected behaviors in the London transportation network, for instance, the strange look returned by commuters, when caught staring. She also explains a number of common sights and things observed on the Underground as well as unusual and often humorous situations. Tales of the Underground gives a fly-on-the-wall narrative of seemingly innocuous and unconnected events which, when pieced together, offers an understanding of both the travelers and the flavors of London.

Welcome to the weird and wonderful world of London's Underground, or as it is affectionately referred to, the Tube. Though this isn’t the usual side of the Tube the tourists, travellers and residents see. (Though, of course, they do see a great deal of strangeness in their daily commutes!). This is the real Underground, the strange and twisted nooks and crannies of what happens hundreds of metres below millions of London legs – from its peculiar past through to its paranormal present and looking forward to its fascinating future. Following on from the bestselling Portico Strangest titles now comes a book devoted to London's globally envied, and much loved, public transport system. Located deep beneath the heart of Greater London, the Underground is awash with more strangeness than you can shake your pre-paid Oyster card at. In 2013 the whole city will be celebrating the Underground's 150th birthday – the oldest underground in the world. So, pack up your old kit bag and travel stop-by-stop with us on this strange and fantastic journey along the Northern, Picadilly, Metropolitan, Jubilee, Hammersmith and City and District Line ... and explore the Underground as you've never seen it before. London Underground's Strangest Tales is a treasure trove of the humorous, the odd and the baffling – an alternative travel guide to the Underground's best-kept secrets. Read on, if you dare! You have been warned. Word Count: 35,000

The Underground Railroad was a complex network of secret routes, safe houses, and courageous men and women, both black and white, who helped slaves escape to free states and to Canada. "Conductors," such as Harriet Tubman, risked recapture in the South guiding slaves to freedom. Readers explore the formation of this extremely effective anti-slavery escape network and the people who made it work.

Every line tells a different story ...

Describes the efforts of the vast secret network of sympathetic people who helped blacks escape slavery in the South on the Underground Railroad.