Books Like “The Moves Make the Man

If you enjoyed The Moves Make the Man by Bruce Brooks, you likely appreciate African Americans, Basketball, Emotional problems. These similar reads match the tone, themes, and audience of the original.

African AmericansBasketballEmotional problemsEmotional problems of childrenFictionFriendshipJuvenile fictionMental health
Cover of Brideshead Revisited

Brideshead Revisited

Evelyn Waugh

1945

Evelyn Waugh's beloved masterpiece, with an introduction by Paula Byrne The most nostalgic and reflective of Evelyn Waugh's novels, Brideshead Revisited looks back to the golden age before the Second World War. It tells the story of Charles Ryder's infatuation with the Marchmains and the rapidly disappearing world of privilege they inhabit. Enchanted first by Sebastian Flyte at Oxford, then by his doomed Catholic family, in particular his remote sister, Julia, Charles comes finally to recognise his spiritual and social distance from them. 'Lush and evocative ... Expresses at once the profundity of change and the indomitable endurance of the human spirit' The Times

Cover of Pollyanna

Pollyanna

Eleanor Hodgman Porter, Porter, Neil Reed, Lee Giles

1912

The whole town is playing the game, and the whole town is wonderfully happier-and all because of one little girl who taught the people a new game, and how to play it. Suddenly orphaned, Pollyanna is sent across the country to a small town in Vermont, where she will live with her strict Aunt Polly. But Pollyanna doesn't seem to notice how stern and unfeeling her aunt really is. When feeling unhappy, she simply plays her "glad" game-finding a silver lining in every cloud. Eventually, Pollyanna brightens the lives of everyone in town with her infectious game, and finds a home for every stray cat, dog, and child she encounters. But then a terrible accident happens and Pollyanna can't find anything to feel glad about anymore. All her new friends turn out to support her, but will that be enough to restore Pollyanna's cheerful outlook on life?

Cover of Emily climbs

Emily climbs

Lucy Maud Montgomery

1920

Emily Starr was born with the desire to write. As an orphan living on New Moon Farm, writing helped her face the difficult, lonely times. But now all her friends are going away to high school in nearby Shrewsbury, and her old-fashioned, tyrannical aunt Elizabeth will only let her go if she promises to stop writing! All the same, this is the first step in Emily's climb to success. Once in town, Emily's activities set the Shrewsbury gossips buzzing. But Emily and her friends are confident - Ilse's a born actress, Teddy's set to be a great artist, and roguish Perry has the makings of a brilliant lawyer. When Emily has her poems published and writes for the town newspaper, success seems to be on its way - and with it the first whispers of romance. Then Emily is offered a fabulous opportunity, and she must decide if she wants to change her life forever.

Cover of Das Drama des begabten Kindes und die Suche nach dem wahren Selbst

Das Drama des begabten Kindes und die Suche nach dem wahren Selbst

Alice Miller

1979

The “drama” of the gifted—i.e., sensitive, alert—child consists of his recognition at a very early age of his parents' needs and of his adaptation to those needs. In the process, he learns to repress rather than to acknowledge his own intense feelings because they are unacceptable to his parents. Although it will not always be possible to avoid these “ugly” feelings (anger, indignation, despair, jealousy, fear) in the future, they will split off, and the most vital part of the “true self” (a key phrase in Alice Miller's works) will not be integrated into the personality. This leads to emotional insecurity and loss of self, which are revealed in depression or concealed behind a facade of grandiosity.Alice Miller defines the ideal state of genuine vitality, of free access to the true self and to authentic individual feelings that have their roots in childhood, as “healthy narcissism.” Narcissistic disturbances, on the other hand, represent for her solitary confinement of the true self within the prison of the false self. This is regarded less as an illness than as a tragedy.The examples Alice Miller presents make us aware of the child's unarticulated suffering and of the tragedy of parents who are unavailable to their children—the same parents who, when they were children, were available to fill their parents' needs. In her psychoanalytical work, Dr. Miller found that her patients' ability to experience authentic feelings, especially feelings of sadness, had been for the most part destroyed; it was her task to help her patients try to regain that long-lost capacity for genuine feelings that is the source of natural vitality. Many people who have read her books have discovered within themselves for the first time in their lives the little child they once were. This may explain the unusually strong and deep reactions Alice Miller's books have evoked in so many readers from different countries. The Drama of the Gifted Child and the Search for the True Self is the origina

Cover of The Railway Children

The Railway Children

Edith Nesbit

1900

Rediscover the Puffin Classics collection and bring the best-loved classics to a new generation - including this charming edition of The Railway Children. When Father is taken away unexpectedly, Roberta, Peter, Phyllis and their mother have to leave their comfortable life in London to go and live in a small cottage in the country. The children seek solace in the nearby railway station, and make friends with Perks the Porter and the Station Master himself. Each day, Roberta, Peter and Phyllis run down the field to the railway track and wave at the passing London train, sending their love to Father. Little do they know that the kindly old gentleman passenger who waves back holds the key to their father's disappearance. One of the best-loved classics of all time, with a wonderful introduction by Jacqueline Wilson.

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