NCW Libraries

Anna knew fear; it first grabbed her in its clutches on a hard church pew, then tightened its grip through a raging fire. But fear and sadness could not defeat her light. Plain Anna shows you just how not-plain and rather remarkable Anna really is. Through her heart-wrenching story, you’ll discover that peace is worth every encounter with fear and that pain never needs to be the end of your story. -- Back cover.

"'My job is to go to places where people die. I pack my bags, talk to the survivors, write my stories, then go home to wait for the next catastrophe. I don't wait very long.' Journalist Patricia Evangelista came of age in the aftermath of a street revolution that forged a new future for the Philippines. Three decades later, in the face of mounting inequality, the nation discovered the fragility of its democratic institutions under the regime of strongman...

Survivors, observers and expert government officials recount the 1971 uprising at the Attica Correctional Facility, when a violent five-day standoff between mostly Black and Latino inmates and law enforcement took place.

The story follows a young mother who, when on a day trip with her husband and son, commits a startling act of violence and, to her horror, has no idea why. The event launches an inverted and utterly surprising crime thriller whose driving force is not the 'who' or the 'what, ' but the 'why.' When an investigator finds himself obsessed with uncovering the woman's buried motive, together they travel a harrowing journey into the depths of her psyche....

"The Palmer sisters couldn't be more different. Karen, the eldest, is the responsible one the one who got the grades, married the perfect guy, and has two wonderful, high-achieving children. Cassie is the rebellious one, who got pregnant right after high school and married the wrong man, despite her family's misgivings. And Nicole is a free, creative spirit, who's always been indulged and pampered as the baby of the family who could do no wrong. These...

"What if the person you thought you knew best turns out to be someone you never knew at all? Andrea knows everything about her mother, Laura. She knows she's spent her whole life in the small beachside town of Belle Isle; she knows she's never wanted anything more than to live a quiet life as a pillar of the community; she knows she's never kept a secret in her life. Because we all know our mothers, don't we? But all that changes when a trip to the...

Terror groups' recruitment efforts center on vulnerable, impressionable populations, which make teens a common target. This book helps readers understand why and how teens join terrorist organizations like ISIS and the Lord's Resistance Army by providing specific case studies. The book also explains the geopolitical circumstances that have given rise to terrorist groups themselves and promotes critical thinking about what drives young people to engage...

Told in two voices, the budding romance between tenth-graders Uly Gates and Sallie Walls is tested when their sisters run against each other in a racially-charged campaign for student-body president.

Through conversations with victims and trips to women's shelters around the world, this documentary reveals survivors' stories and how they live with repressed trauma.

The intimacy of a hotel room. The immensity of a desert. A desolate gas station. In these picturesque settings, hideous crimes occur under the cold stare of unexpected protagonists that show the dark, twisted and perverse sides of human existence.