Julie Schumacher

"I should probably mention something right now before this story goes any further: my name is Theodora Grumman, and I am a liar."It's hard for Thea to write four truths a day in the notebook her mother gave her for the summer. Especially when her grandparents' house on the Jersey Shore is even more packed with family than usual, and her cousin Jocelyn wont leave her alone. Jocelyn just might be the world's neatest and nosiest seven-year-old, and she wants to know what's in Thea's notebook. But Thea won't tell anyone about the secret she has promised to keep--or how she lost her best friend (Truth #12), whose name was Gwen.Now Thea has to babysit in the afternoons, and all Jocelyn wants to do is spy on people. Neither of them expect to see Aunt Ellen and Aunt Celia at the boardwalk in the middle of the day, or for their aunts to lie and insist they were at work. Could it be Thea's not the only one in the family keeping secrets this summer?From the Hardcover edition.

Livvie isn't superstitious like her best friend, Joyce, who thinks everything is bad luck. So Livvie isn't worried about tearing up the chain letter and throwing it away--until she's humiliated in gym class, falls down her back stairs, and gets invited to Thanksgiving dinner at Peter Finch's house. Peter's dad has crooked teeth, a plastic wonderland in his front yard, and some kind of secret up in his study. There is no way Livvie wants Phil Finch to date her mom.But it's hard work keeping their families apart--especially when Livvie is assigned to work on the sixth-grade snow maze project with Peter. Clearly, Joyce was right: breaking the chain was a huge mistake. And the only way to set things straight is to find out who sent the letter in the first place. . . .Rich in humor and suspense, Julie Schumacher's absorbing novel is about friendship, choices, and the kind of luck that really matters.From the Hardcover edition.

Rather than go to a spiritual retreat in Oregon with her mother and brother, eleven-year-old Frances insists on staying in Ohio with her odd aunt, but she soon begins to worry that the retreat may really be a cult.

In these stories, Julie Schumacher captures the intensely visceral dynamics of family, the inextricable bonds of siblings, and the dangers and mysteries of adolescence, all rendered with a pathos that is totally original.

When Jane Haus, an unmarried school teacher is made pregnant, she quits her job and returns to her childhood home on the New Jersey shore to give birth. The novel describes the reaction of those around her, her father, a retired store manager, her pushy sister, and the neighbors. The mother is dead.

The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune keep hitting beleaguered English professor Jason Fitger right between the eyes in this hilarious and eagerly awaited sequel to the cult classic of anhedonic academe, the Thurber Prize-winning Dear Committee Members . Once more into the breach ... Now is the fall of his discontent, as Jason Fitger, newly appointed chair of the English Department of Payne University, takes arms against a sea of troubles, personal and institutional. His ex-wife is sleeping with the dean who must approve whatever modest initiatives he undertakes. The fearsome department secretary Fran clearly runs the show (when not taking in rescue parrots and dogs) and holds plenty of secrets she's not sharing. The lavishly funded Econ Department keeps siphoning off English's meager resources and has taken aim at its remaining office space. And Fitger's attempt to get a mossbacked and antediluvian Shakespeare scholar to retire backfires spectacularly when the press concludes that the Bard is being kicked to the curricular curb. Lord, what fools these mortals be! Julie Schumacher proves the point and makes the most of it in this delicious romp of satire.

Only Rick McCullough knows the real reason he married Martine Barrineau instead of her twin, Trista.Best friends since the age of nine, the three were inseparable. But it was Trista with whom he'd always shared something deeper than friendship--and they have the enduring memory of one night to prove it. Ten years and so much heartbreak later, Rick and Trista might have a second chance. But by this time, life's twists and turns have taken them down very different paths. Sweetwater Cottage in South Carolina's Low Country was where they'd always felt a special connection, as pictures of so many vacations show. Now, after all these years, they're at Sweetwater Cottage again...

My kinsman: Major Mollineux / Nathaniel Hawthorne -- [Black cat]( / Edgar Allan Poe -- Benito Cereno / Herman Melville -- Baker's bluejay yarn / Mark Twain -- The coup de grâce / Ambrose Bierce -- The beast in the jungle / Henry James -- The return of a private / Hamlin Garland -- Roman fever / Edith Wharton -- The open boat / Stephen Crane -- The heathen / Jack London -- I want to know why / Sherwood Anderson -- A day's work / Katharine Anne Porter -- Dry September / William Faulkner -- The short happy life of Francis Macomber / Ernest Hemingway.

"The wonderfully weird illustrations in Doodling for Academics brilliantly capture the bizarre highs and arcane lows of academic life. Full of fun activities to pass the time at staff meetings, this book will be a quirky addition to any academic office"--Glen Wright, creator of Academia Obscura.

When four very different small-town Delaware high school girls are forced to join a mother-daughter book club over summer vacation, they end up learning about more than just the books they read.

WHEN DORA, ELENA'S older sister, is diagnosed with depression and has to be admitted to the hospital, Elena can't seem to make sense of their lives anymore. At school, the only people who acknowledge Elena are Dora's friends and Jimmy Zenk--who failed at least one grade and wears blackevery day of the week. And at home, Elena's parents keep arguing with each other. Elena will do anything to help her sister get better and get their lives back to normal--even when the responsibility becomes too much to bear.From the Hardcover edition.