Frank Carlson Library

"Peter Winceworth, a disaffected Victorian lexicographer, inserts false entries into a dictionary - violating and subverting the dictionary's authority - in an attempt to assert some sense of individual purpose and artistic freedom. In the present day, Mallory, a young overworked and underpaid intern employed by the dictionary's publishing house, is tasked with uncovering these entries before the work is digitised. As the novel progresses and their...

"A 22-volume, highly illustrated, A-Z general encyclopedia for all ages, featuring sections on how to use World Book, other research aids, pronunciation key, a student guide to better writing, speaking, and research skills, and comprehensive index"--Provided by publisher.

A personal collection, built up over thirty years as a writer and editor in two countries" and "intended as a quick, concise guide to the problems of English spelling and usage." First published in the 1980s, Bryson's compilation has been updated and re-released, and includes definitions, guides to punctuation and grammar, and helpful conversion tables (Celsius to Fahrenheit; kilometers to miles). In short, it's equal parts The Elements of Style,...

When he decides to turn his fifth grade teacher's love of the dictionary around on her, clever Nick Allen invents a new word and begins a chain of events that quickly moves beyond his control.

Stick Dog, Mutt, and the rest of the tidbit-snatching gang cross Picasso Park to the site of a brand-new restaurant, where they sample mouthwatering sushi.

As a child, Rebekah Stoltzfus suffered a freak accident that left her legs paralyzed. Now, confined to a wheelchair, she feels she'll never measure up to the expectations of her Pennsylvania Amish community that a woman should marry and raise a family. She longs to be loved, yet she prays for a way to be self-supporting. Daniel Beachy wants to court Rebekah, but she believes that she is a burden and has convinced herself that love is not for her....

"From the author compared to Norah Ephron and Nancy Mitford, not to mention Jane Austen, comes a new novel celebrating the beauty, mischief, and occasional treachery of language. The Grammarians are Laurel and Daphne Wolfe, identical, inseparable redheaded twins who share an obsession with words. They speak a secret "twin" tongue of their own as toddlers; as adults making their way in 1980s Manhattan, their verbal infatuation continues, but this love,...

"This informative and engaging illustrated reference provides the stories behind 1,001 signs and symbols, from ancient hieroglyphs to modern-day political and subculture symbols. What in the world does [Greek capital omega] mean? And what about its meaning might have led my coffee date to tattoo it on his entire forearm? Where did the symbol [infinity] originate, and what was its first meaning? How did the ampersand symbol & come about and how was...

Darkus Cuttle has taken care of his father ever since his mother died, but one day his father vanished from a locked vault at the Natural History Museum, and now he lives with his eccentric uncle--but one day he finds a large and unusually intelligent and self-aware beetle, and soon he and his two friends are caught up in a struggle to protect an intelligent super species of beetles.