Would It Kill You To Smile

Will Keats' father, a second-rate ventriloquist, wanted to be buried with his dummy, Dapper O'Dell. When Will decides to disinter the Dapper, the dummy is gone.

Discover how dangerous an animal can be when it feels threatened or trapped.

The debut book from a celebrated artist on the urgent topic of street harassment Every day, all over the world, women are catcalled and denigrated simply for walking down the street. Boys will be boys, women have been told for generations, ignore it, shrug it off, take it as a compliment. But the harassment has real consequences for women: in the fear it instills and the shame they are made to feel. In Stop Telling Women to Smile, Tatyana Fazlalizadeh uses her arresting street art portraits to explore how women experience hostility in communities that are supposed to be homes. She addresses the pervasiveness of street harassment, its effects, and the kinds of activism that can serve to counter it. The result is a cathartic reckoning with the aggression women endure, and an examination of what equality truly entails.

The author, a computer science professor diagnosed with terminal cancer, explores his life, the lessons that he has learned, how he has worked to achieve his childhood dreams, and the effect of his diagnosis on him and his family.

“Will keep readers on edge from start to finish.” —Kirkus Reviews Tell the truth. Or face the consequences. Clue meets Riverdale in this page-turning thriller that exposes the lies five teens tell about a deadly night one year ago. One year ago, there was a party. At the party, someone died. Five teens each played a part and up until now, no one has told the truth. But tonight, the five survivors arrive at an isolated mansion in the hills, expecting to compete in a contest with a $50,000 grand prize. Of course…some things are too good to be true. Now, they realize they’ve been lured together by a person bent on revenge, a person who will stop at nothing to uncover what actually happened on that deadly night, one year ago. Five arrived, but not all can leave. Will the truth set them free? Or will their lies destroy them all?

- Holly's journey provides insight into dating and finding true connections even in moments of self-doubt and personal crisisHolly Martyn has been dumped. Twice-divorced and a single parent, she is sitting in a spa feeling sorry for herself when she picks up a magazine and reads the advice Joan Rivers gives to console a friend in the same position: "Would it kill you to put on some lipstick? Get an on-line dating account, go on 100 dates and you'll meet somebody." There you go, Holly decides, 100 dates. Problem solved. The 100 dates quest throws Holly in the path of an eclectic cast of characters, including a thirty-three year old African American fireman and a sixty-two year old CEO with whom she falls in love, the man who challenges her to find her father. The story concludes with hard-won insights about the path to partnership, forgiveness, and finding happiness in midlife.