Jane Smiley

An epic novel that spans thirty years in the lives of a farm family in Iowa, telling a parallel story of the changes taking place in America from 1920 through the early 1950s.

"Paras (short for Perestroika) is a spirited racehorse at a racetrack west of Paris. At dusk, one afternoon she pushes open the door of her stall - she's a curious filly - and, after traveling through the night, arrives by chance in the City of Light. She's dazzled, and often mystified, by the sights, sounds and smells around her, but she isn't afraid. Soon she meets an elegant dog, a German shorthair pointer named Frida, who knows how to get by without...

The third book of a trilogy about a farm family from Iowa, which takes them from the late 1980s through the present and into the future. --Provided by publisher.

On her family's California horse ranch in the 1960s, eighth-grader Abby Lovitt tries to rely on her Christian faith as she faces the possibility of giving up her beloved colt, Jack.

As her mom reads a bedtime story, Lucy drifts off. But later, she awakens in a dark, still room, and everything looks mysterious. How will she ever get back to sleep?

Traces physics professor John Vincent Atanasoff's role in the invention of the computer, describing his innovative construction of an unpatented electronic device that eased the lives of burdened scientists by performing calculations using binary numbers.

Before Jodie Rattler became a star, she was a girl growing up in St. Louis. One day in 1955, when she was just six years old, her uncle Drew took her to the racetrack, where she got lucky-and that roll of two-dollar bills she won has never since left her side. Jodie thrived in the warmth of her extended family, and then-through a combination of hard work and serendipity-she started a singing career, which catapulted her from St. Louis to New York...