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If You Follow Me by Malena Watrous A nice summer read, If You Follow Me, opens with the first of many entertaining letters about sorting their garbage that Marina and Carolyn receive from their new supervisor in Japan. Upon finishing college, both girls sign up to teach English to Japanese high school students. Their placement in rural Shika, whose economy depends on the local nuclear power plant, does not match the glamorous adventure they envisioned. Watrous draws believable characters in the girls, as well as, the Japanese staff and neighbors around them. The cultural details are baffling, interesting, and integral to the plot. Drawn together in school through the common experience of losing a parent at a young age, each girl has to find independence and identity in this new stage of her life. |
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Coop: A Family, a Farm, and the Pursuit of One Good Egg Reminiscent of Bill Bryson and Garrison Keillor, Michael Perry chronicles his family's move back to the farming life of his childhood. While he tackles thirty-seven acres of fallen fences and overgrown fields, his wife adjusts to raising a toddler in the country and prepares to deliver their second child at home. The stories range from laugh-out-loud funny when managing an aggressive pig, to poignant when dealing with the death of a best friend. Among the anecdotes, readers will appreciate Perry's "smart contemplation about meaning and purpose." |
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upcycled kids' clothing |
