Silvia Piraccini Books

What ever became of Sheila? When special-education teacher Torey Hayden wrote her first book One Child almost two decades ago, she created an international bestseller. Her intensely moving true story of Sheila, a silent, profoundly disturbed little six-year-old girl touched millions. From every corner of the world came letters from readers wanting to know more about the troubled child who had come into Torey Hayden's class as a"hopeless case," and emerged as the very symbol of eternal hope within the human spirit. Now, for all those who have never forgotten this endearing child and her remarkable relationship with her teacher, here is the surprising story of Sheila, the young woman.

An innovative and richly imaginative new novel from the internationally acclaimed Carolyn Jess-Cooke, for anyone who loved The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time and Room.

They were taken from their beds one frozen night, when the world was covered in snow. The silhouette of a tall, thin man has haunted Kate ever since. Ten years on, Kate, Michael and Emma have grown up in a string of miserable orphanages, and all memories of their parents have faded to a blur. Arriving at Cambridge Falls, the children quickly realise there is something different about this place - and Kate feels sure she has seen the dark, crooked house before. As they explore, they discover an old, empty leather book. The moment they touch it, an ancient magical prophecy is set irrevocably in motion, and the children are thrown into a dangerous alternate reality of dark enchantments and terrifying monsters. Only they can prevent the terrible event that will ruin Cambridge Falls - and stop the world from falling into complete devastation.

Owen Mackenzie's life is marked by sin and seduction, starting with a betrayal soon after marrying his college sweetheart. His quest for happiness leads him through a series of affairs and small towns from Pennsylvania to Massachusetts, pushing him toward chaos.

Among the many things a mother would rather not discover about her teenage son, there is one particularly embarrassing revelation. Lynn receives a video accompanied by a note from a gossiping neighbor, and to her shock, it features her son Mark on the cover. The film has a rather unwholesome title and is rated for adults only. It turns out that Mark has an unexpected hidden talent: he has become a porn star. How does one cope with such news? Lynn must tell her husband Dave, and together they will have to discuss this with their son. Perhaps nothing in their family will ever be the same again. Or will it? Is there a way to approach this situation positively, rather than negatively?

Vaclav e Lena si conoscono che hanno solo dieci anni, ed è subito amore. Figli entrambi di immigrati russi in America, dividono i sogni e le difficoltà. I sogni di un futuro sfavillante - in cui lui diventerà un famoso mago e lei "la sua incantevole assistente" - e le difficoltà di una vita in un paese straniero, confortata dall'affetto di una famiglia presente e affettuosa per Vaclav, fatta di abbandono e solitudine per Lena, che non ha mai conosciuto i genitori e abita con una zia che non si occupa di lei. Ma per i due bambini l'importante è stare insieme, fino al giorno, terribile, in cui Lena sparisce dalla vita di Vaclav senza nemmeno un addio. Dieci anni dopo i due si rincontreranno, per scoprire che nulla è cambiato, ma il passato allunga la sua ombra terribile sulla loro felicità...

A sparkling debut novel about an unlikely romance between an Iranian immigrant and an American college student.Isolated and far from his native Iran, Ushman Khan has worked hard to build a wealthy, reliable clientele for his wares: exquisite hand-woven rugs from his home city of Tabriz.With perfect rectitude, he caters to clients like New York’s Upper East Side grand dame Mrs. Roberts, who plies him for stories about his exotic origins and culture to feed her own imagination. But like many immigrants, he’s living only half a life. He dreams of the day his beloved wife, Farak, will be able to join him in New York and complete his vision of the American dream. But when she tells him that she is leaving him for another man, Ushman is shattered. He begins to wander aimlessly through the terminals of JFK Airport, imagining a now-impossible reunion with Farak. Unexpectedly, he meets Stella, a Barnard College student who has just bade farewell to her parents en route for an Italian vacation. After Stella, isolated in her own way, finds herself at Ushman’s Manhattan store, they embark on an improbable and powerful romance. Together this American girl from the Deep South and the Iranian aesthete form a tender bond that awakens them both to the possibility of joy in a world full of tragedy.

When Barry Fairbrother dies in his early forties, the town of Pagford is left in shock. Pagford is, seemingly, an English idyll, with a cobbled market square and an ancient abbey, but what lies behind the pretty facade is a town at war. Rich at war with poor, teenagers at war with their parents, wives at war with their husbands, teachers at war with their pupils... Pagford is not what it first seems. And the empty seat left by Barry on the parish council soon becomes the catalyst for the biggest war the town has yet seen. Who will triumph in an election fraught with passion, duplicity and unexpected revelations? A big novel about a small town, The Casual Vacancy is J.K. Rowling's first novel for adults. It is the work of a storyteller like no other.

Sam vive a North London; sedici anni, gli ormoni impazziti e una passione grande, come tutti i suoi coetanei: lo skateboard. E l'Eroe, il suo Eroe, è Tony Hawk, il più grande skater del mondo. Lui lo adora, ha il suo poster in camera, gli parla, si confronta con lui. E a chi se non al proprio eroe si possono raccontare le paure, le ansie, i problemi? Forse a una mamma come quella di Sam, giovane, carina, comprensiva, che ha conquistato anche gli amici del figlio. Del resto lei è una mamma davvero particolare e molto vicina al figlio, visto che lo ha avuto a sedici anni. E proprio a quella stessa età Sam conosce Alicia, con la quale è amore a prima vista, passione totalizzante e simbiotica come può esserlo solo a quell'età. Ma poi purtroppo, proprio quando - come succede solo a quell'età - il rapporto si sta ormai sfilacciando, Alicia scopre di essere incinta. Terrorizzato dal dover annunciare ai rispettivi genitori la drammatica verità e distrutto dalla visione terribile di un futuro fatto di pannolini e incomprensioni matrimoniali - prospettatagli dal suo idolo che tra le altre mille qualità ha anche quella di farlo "viaggiare" nel futuro - , Sam sceglie la fuga ad Hastings. Ma la sua fuga avrà breve durata.

Sam liebt sein Skateboard, sein großes Vorbild ist Tony Hawk, der beste Skateboarder der Welt. Und als Sam Alicia trifft, scheint alles perfekt zu sein. Doch dann passiert in Sekunden etwas, das das Leben der beiden Teenager für immer verändert. Nur langsam kann Sam sich mit dieser Realität anfreunden, begreift, dass alles nicht nur ein Traum ist. Die Darstellung der Personen und ihrer Motive zeigt, dass es keine leichten Lösungen gibt und fordert sie heraus, selbst Stellung zu beziehen. Die Annotationen erleichtern es, die Jugendsprache zu verstehen, ohne dass der Lesefluss gestört wird. Abiturempfehlung zum Themenbereich Growing up