Difficult Parents

Heaven is the perfect name for the small Ohio town where 14-year-old Marley lives. Or at least she thought so until the fateful day when the mysterious letter arrived. Now her life has been turned upside down. Twelve years ago Momma chose to live in Heaven because she liked the name of the town and the white picket fences and the little schoolhouse by the river.

Gardner Dickinson is almost 15, and his life is a mess. His bedroom is littered with library books he never reads. He daydreams about building muscles, but never gets around to it. Worst of all, his recently laid-off dad is more interested in playing golf than finding a new job. But one day life starts to click for Gardner. He finishes a few of those library books, begins running after school and starts earning some spare cash - and those muscles he’s craved - by splitting wood for the neighbors.

Everyone’s given up. Dad keeps burning pizzas, and he doesn’t smile anymore. Sally wears only black now and has a terrible secret. Conor plays the drums all night and keeps the neighbors awake. And the dog, Sparkler, hasn’t been walked in months. And that’s not even counting how terrible things are at school. But Mimi isn’t one to give up. John Newman has crafted a novel both touching and comic - a portrait of loss, compassion, and the power that comes from sticking together.

In this compelling novel, Golden Kite Award-winning children’s author Tony Abbott explores Jim Crow laws and family strife from multiple perspectives. During the summer of 1959, Bobby and his family are visiting Civil War battlefields. Tempers flare as an accident cuts their trip short and forces them to return home by bus. On their journey, they witness a black family getting denied bus seats. In brief flashes of insight, young Bobby begins to question his assumptions about race.

Joseph’s sophomore year is about to begin, but his new start is a false one. At his father’s request, Joseph has moved in with his aunt and uncle to avoid the toxic environment surrounding his drug-addicted mother. But efforts to keep Joseph safe have tragic results for the family. When their community is shattered, Joseph must contend with his own grief, his mother’s persistent pleas for money, and the distance between himself and his father, stationed in Iraq - not to mention schoolwork, making the tennis team, and a new relationship.

In this book, we will attempt to give you a foundation on bullying and how it pertains to today's way of life. We will also talk to you about ways as a parent that you can change your ways of thinking and how not to pass what we have learned as children onto our children.

Mystery Behind the Doors is a mystery novel about self-discovery, confidence, intentional action, choice, focus, and new ways of thinking. This inclusive book full of mystery and riddles holds the listeners' attention as they join the three friends on an enchanted journey between realms. There, they learn lifelong self-empowering lessons, applicable to tweens and beyond.

Runaway Bunny, The Story of Babar: The Little Elephant, and Goodnight Moon are national treasures and many of us remember them from our childhoods. Catherine Zeta-Jones narrates The Runaway Bunny in a new piano-trio version composed by GPR Records artistic director and four-time Emmy Award Winner, Glen Roven. This piece premiered at Carnegie Hall with the American Symphony. Runaway Bunny was written in 1942 and has been published continuously since that time - it's a wonderful timeless story of free thinking and creativity.

When Emmaline Beaumont's father started building the ghost machine, she didn't expect it to bring her mother back from the dead. But by locking himself in the basement to toil away at his hopes, Monsieur Beaumont has become obsessed with the contraption and is neglecting the living, and Emmaline is tired of feeling forgotten. Nothing good has come from building the ghost machine, and Emmaline decides that the only way to bring her father back will be to make the ghost machine work or destroy it forever.

Jack the husky dog and his friend Maria face losses together when Maria's father dies suddenly one summer. Maria is a young girl of 11 years of age dealing with one of life's most difficult challenges, the death of a parent. She goes from experiencing a normal childhood with a normally present mother and father to almost instantly having to accept and assume the role of a child being raised solely by her mother, now a single parent. Jack the husky dog serves as her friend and coach as she finds her way through the many stages of grieving.

Shy Anna doesn't think she is anything like her outgoing, funny, clever mother. One day, Anna sees a hungry man on the street and decides to find a way to help. When she uses her tzedakah money for an act of kindness, she realizes she and her mother have something special in common after all.

A man's encounter with his mother's first love redefines his past and changes the course of his future. This story is an excerpt from the full collection, While I'm Still Myself, available everywhere books are sold.

Milo is on a long subway ride with his older sister. To pass the time, he studies the faces around him and makes pictures of their lives. There's the boy in the suit with the bright white sneakers; Milo imagines him arriving home to a castle with a drawbridge and a butler. But when the boy in the suit gets off on the same stop as Milo - walking the same path, going to the exact same place - Milo realizes you can't really know anyone just by looking at them.

Everybody gets angry sometimes. And for children, anger can be very upsetting. In this Caldecott-honor book, children will see what Sophie does when she gets angry. People do lots of different things when they get angry. What do you do?