Showing results by narrator "Vikas Adam" in All Categories

The new world of results-driven aid that could put an end to extreme poverty. Drawing on two decades covering global development as editor in chief of Devex, Raj Kumar explores how nontraditional models of philanthropy and aid are empowering the world’s poorest people to make progress.

From the very first hour Cayden had set foot inside the massive, real-life game that was the Tower of Babel, nothing had gone according to plan. A unique skill, a handful of new friends, and the wrath of an ultra-wealthy, patricidal lunatic were just some of the complications to his best laid plans.
So why was he even surprised when a special event trapped him, his companions, and dozens of other players inside the tower, squaring them off against a murderous army of stone-faced warriors?

Kitty has a grand idea: “Let’s throw a kitty-corn party!” But when newcomer Puppy messes up Kitty’s perfectly laid plans and steals Unicorn’s attention and affection, Kitty is NOT pleased. When jealousy takes hold, can Unicorn help Kitty see that nothing will ever threaten a friendship as strong as theirs? Reassuring kids that true friends never run out of love for each other, the magical, best-selling team of Shannon Hale and LeUyen Pham reunite for another heart-bursting story featuring an utterly adorable kitty-corn pair—plus Puppy too! ARF!

Unicorn is perfect - everybody thinks so. He yearns to look the way everyone thinks he should. But when a fumble makes Unicorn feel like a big, ugly goof, he can’t help but wonder: If he’s not absolutely perfect and majestic all the time, will Kitty even want to be his best friend anymore?

Nobody has written so powerfully of the relationship between and within India and the Western middle classes than Ruth Prawer Jhabvala. In this selection of stories, chosen by her surviving family, her ability to tenderly and humorously view the situations faced by three (sometimes interacting) cultures - European, post-Independence Indian, and American - is never more acute.

Every school has them: the cool kids. The insiders. Gavin Meeks is one of them. He lives an easy life of parties, girls, snowboarding adventures, and whatever else comes his way. But when dark, dramatic Antoinette crash-lands at Evergreen High, the entire school feels the impact. Antoinette has seen things, been places, experienced deep tragedy firsthand. She's not just a rebel; she's a force of nature. Gavin, for one, is captivated and is soon pursuing interests he never knew he had.

Necessity - the sentient computer that runs the universe - has caught a virus that crashes most of the magical Internet, and Ravirn is tasked with fixing it. And Ravirn hasn’t missed the fact that whoever repairs Necessity will, for that moment, run the universe, able to remake the worlds to their liking.

After Kiran Noorani’s mom died, Kiran vowed to keep her dad and sister, Amira, close—to keep her family together. But when Amira announces that she’s dating someone, Kiran’s world is turned upside down. Deen Malik is thrilled that his brother, Faisal, has found a great girlfriend. Maybe a new love will give Faisal a new lease on life, and Deen can stop feeling guilty for the reason that Faisal needs a do-over in the first place.

Grant Manwhore. Adrenaline junkie. Lead singer of ContraBand. What you see is what you get. I make no apologies for my actions, and by now no one expects any from me. I live my life the way I want, and as long as it pushes the demons back, then I'm solid. I've never needed a chick for more than a good lay. Why would I need just one when I can have a different one every night? Until she walks into my world.

Returning to Ashok K. Banker's brilliant #OwnVoices, epic fantasy world of the Burnt Empire, first introduced in Upon a Burning Throne, A Dark Queen Rises features Krushita and Karni, two women on quests to protect the innocent and bring down tyrants.

In How to Win in a Winner-Take-All World, Neil Irwin, senior economic correspondent at the New York Times, delivers the essential guide to being successful in today’s economy when the very notion of the “job” is shifting and the corporate landscape has become dominated by global firms. He shows that the route to success lies in cultivating the ability to bring multiple specialties together - to become a “glue person” who can ensure people with radically different technical skills work together effectively.

Perfect for fans of Carmen Maria Machado and Kelly Link, Jo Paquette’s Stories I Told My Dead Lover contains eight searing tales of psychological horror that probe the darkest and most deeply buried parts of the human psyche. A child is forced to grow up too soon. A woman trusts her doctor too much. An abandoned woman isn’t as alone as she thinks. An idyllic holiday masks an unspeakable act of violence. Driven, desperate, fighting for the power to choose their own fate, Paquette’s characters dare to push back at the walls that hold them in.

Twelve-year-old Raj is happiest flying kites with his best friend, Iqbal. As their kites soar, Raj feels free, like his beloved India soon will be, and he can’t wait to celebrate their independence. But when a British lawyer draws a line across a map, splitting India in two, Raj is thrust into a fractured world. With Partition declared, Hindu, Sikh, and Muslim families are torn apart—and Raj’s Hindu and Iqbal’s Muslim families are among them.

In this fascinating book, David Barash highlights an intriguing patch of common ground between scientific and religious thought, illuminating the many parallels between biology and Buddhism, allowing listeners to see both in a new way. Indeed, he shows that there are numerous places where the Buddhist and biological perspectives coincide. For instance, the cornerstone ecological concept - the interconnectedness and interdependence of all things - is remarkably similar to the fundamental insight of Buddhism.

Eleven masters of suspense - Kelly Barnhill, Michael Buckley, Adam Gidwitz, Adele Griffin and Lisa Brown, Claire Legrand, Nikki Loftin, Daniel José Older, Dav Pilkey, R. L. Stine, and Rita Williams-Garcia - have come together to bring you a bone-chilling collection of original ghost stories, perfect for sharing around the campfire, listening under the covers with a flashlight, and scaring your friends' pants off.

Kihrin grew up on tales of long-lost princes and grand quests - despite being raised in a brothel, making money as a musician and street thief. One day he overreaches by targeting an absent noble’s mansion, hunting for jewels. There he witnesses a prince performing a terrifying dark-magic ritual. Kihrin flees, but he’s marked by a demon, and his life will never be the same again. That night also leads to him being claimed as a lost son of that prince’s royal house. But far from living the dream, Kihrin finds himself practically a prisoner.

Icarus plunges into a terrifying new world; an endless green forest where wolves appear out of nowhere and dreams seem as tangible as reality. To make matters worse, he can’t remember anything that came before the fall; not Hawk, not the Dimension, not even his own name.

As a teenager in Palestine, Sami al Jundi had one ambition: overthrowing Israeli occupation. With two friends, he began to build a bomb to use against the police. But when it exploded prematurely, killing one of his friends, al Jundi was caught and sentenced to 10 years in prison. It was in an Israeli jail that his unlikely transformation began. Al Jundi was welcomed into a highly organized, democratic community of political prisoners who required that members of their cell read, engage in political discourse on topics ranging from global revolutions to the precepts of nonviolent protest and revolution.

As a high school sophomore, Aiden Kelly's biggest problems should be his failing grades, his abusive father, being a self-proclaimed loner, or getting pummeled by the football team. Instead, Aiden's number one dilemma is a guy named Tony, a senior who seems to know all sorts of things that should be impossible to know. Oh, and he may also be a sociopath. So, you know: No. Big. Deal.

Exactly one year after the 1969 Stonewall Uprising, the very first pride parade kicked off on Christopher Street with a march up New York's Sixth Avenue and into the Sheep Meadow in Central Park. They marched to demonstrate against decades of systemic discrimination, inequality, and harassment. Fifty years later, New York City was preparing for the biggest pride celebration yet when COVID-19 struck. Undeterred, the global LGBTQIA+ community transformed this special anniversary into a global virtual celebration.