Family Culture

With My Face to the Enemy is one of the most provocative and wide-ranging anthologies on the Civil War to come along in years. Its illuminating essays examine the war from perspectives that were critical to its outcome - the larger-than-life personalities of its important players and the national strategies and key battle tactics that shaped the four-year-long crisis.

In the immediate aftermath of the great San Francisco earthquake of 1906, 12-year-old Clara and her family find an abandoned baby, apparently orphaned in the quake, on the steps of their boarding house home. But Clara suspects that something about the baby is not as it seems. Following her suspicions through a city consumed with fire and devastation, Clara discovers that while the earthquake has brought out the best in some people, it has brought out the worst in others.

A boy and his elephant escape into the jungle when the Viet Cong attack his village immediately after the Vietnam war.

In 1881, 12-year-old Rodzina Clara Jadwiga Anastazya Brodski wishes she didn't have to board the orphan train in Chicago. But she has no home, no family, and no choice. Rodzina doesn't believe the orphans are on their way out West to be adopted by good families. She's sure they will become slaves to strangers. Anyway, who would ever adopt a large, tough, stubborn girl of Polish origin? As the train heads west, all Rodzina has is a small suitcase and her family memories from the past.

Because Yumi Ruíz-Hirsch has grandparents from Japan, Cuba, and Brooklyn, her mother calls her a poster child for the 21st century. Yumi would laugh if only her life wasn't getting as complicated as her heritage. All of a sudden she's starting eighth grade with a girl who collects tinfoil and a boy who dresses like a squid.

In Karen Ball's Kaleidoscope Eyes, a woman "cursed" with a gift must join forces with a man hiding ulterior motives - or die. Born with synesthesia, Annie sees a pulsating World of color others can't perceive. This makes her a sought-after stained-glass artists and a key member of the K-9 Search and Rescue Team. But no one knows how well Annie hides her insecurities - until Jed comes along.

In this Carnegie Award winning sequel to The Lark in the Morn, 17-year-old Kit, once again, is up against her practical cousin Laura, who has helped in the raising of Kit and her three older brothers. Well-intentioned but as clueless as ever with regard to Kit, Laura has better ideas for her than a musical career. Following wise advice, Kit decides to bide her time and enter the secretarial college of Laura’s choice, while studying singing on her own.

As their businesses begin and then mature, entrepreneurs face increasingly complex emotional challenges that they must navigate as they take their businesses from an idea to the maturation period of growth and expansion, to succession planning and divestiture, to the day they step aside. John Waldron has leveraged his own entrepreneurial experience and that of the hundreds of business owners he has counseled to build an essential framework that addresses the important balance between the tangible and intangible complexities of each stage of The Entrepreneurial Journey.

Make a lasting connection with your kid by learning how to effectively discuss life's most complicated topics. Tough Stuff Parenting will equip you to have thoughtful, age-appropriate conversations with your child. The biblically-based wisdom and practical tools you'll find inside will help you confidently engage your kid in meaningful dialogue. And when questions arise, your child will look to you first for answers instead of friends or the Internet.

Raising kids today is more challenging than it has ever been. Technology, social media, and the ever-shifting standards of what is right and wrong can make parenting in modern-day culture difficult to navigate. If we want to win the battle as parents, we need to have the desire to truly parent well.

With a Burmese mother and a white American father, Alex Wagner grew up thinking of herself as a "futureface" - an example of what the mixed-race future of America would look like. When Alex learns that her ancestry might be more mysterious than she believed, she becomes obsessed with learning everything there is to know about her ethnic and racial history. Through a blend of history, science, and sociology, Alex tries to solve the mysteries of her family and what it means to be American.

> Hideous Love is the fascinating story of gothic novelist Mary Shelley, who as a teen girl fled her restrictive home only to find herself in the shadow of a brilliant but moody boyfriend, famed poet Percy Shelley. It is the story of the mastermind behind one of the most iconic figures in all of literature: a monster constructed out of dead bodies and brought to life by the tragic Dr. Frankenstein. Mary wrote Frankenstein at the age of 19, but inspiration for the monster came from her life - the atmospheric European settings she visited, the dramas swirling around her, and the stimulating philosophical discussions with the greatest minds of the period.

In a small village called Yellow Stone, below the mountains of southeastern China, Sisi is a model sister, daughter, and student. She brews tea for her grandfather in the morning, leads recitations at school as class monitor, and helps care for her youngest brother, Da. But when students are selected during a school ceremony to join the prestigious Red Guard, Sisi is passed over. Worse, she is shamed for her family’s past - they are former landowners who have no place in the new Communist order.

You can swim confidently into the murky waters of parenting teens! Rescue offers wisdom, encouragement, and practical applications. Working with a group of young "lifeguards" throughout the audiobook, Candy Gibbs gives struggling parents the life preservers they need to rescue teens from a drowning culture. With Biblical insights and Candy's own creative techniques, Rescue is the "Noah's Ark" of parenting guides, ensuring that today's teens will carry on a legacy of godliness to generations to come.

Ninety-five percent of American kids have Internet access by age 11; the average number of texts a teenager sends each month is well over 3,000. More families report that technology makes life with children more challenging, not less, as parents today struggle with questions previous generations never faced: Is my 13-year-old responsible enough for a Facebook page? What will happen if I give my nine-year-old a cell phone?

Aufregung in der Savanne: Jemand spielt nachts gemeine Streiche. Und alle sind sich einig: Es war Pinsel, Tafitis bester Freund! Schließlich wurden eindeutig Pinselohren am Tatort gesichtet. Und die hat schließlich nur das Pinselohrschwein! Pinsel ist fassungslos. Niemals würde er so etwas tun! Tafiti glaubt seinem Freund. Doch ob sie auch die anderen überzeugen können? Am besten sie stellen eine Falle. Wer da wohl reintappt ... In Tafiti. Pinsel unter Verdacht sind Tafiti und Pinsel auf geheimer Mission.

Returning to the beach cottage, a cottage named Scallop, where she has always celebrated her birthday is a special occasion for Alice Rice. Who will see the first dolphin this time? The first pelican? What will have changed? Stayed the same? And will this be the year she finally finds a junonia shell?

Vanessa, the daughter of Australian parents, grows up in Taiwan adopted by local farmers. The story follows her journey from 1978 to '89. She experiences a childhood surrounded by love, death, poverty, and beautiful nature. Vanessa discovers music to express her joy and grief. She puts her soul into the music notes, melting her listeners’ hearts. Music brings her into the larger world and on a journey to a surprise discovery. You will experience the Taiwanese culture in this heart-touching and uplifting story.

In 1955, 13-year-old Lyric, her older sister Summer, and their widowed father pack the car. Poor yet hopeful, they move from the hills of Virginia to Flint, Michigan, where "Poppy" plans to find factory work. Once they are in Michigan, Lyric and Summer love the excitement of the city. Lyric makes friends at her new school, but Summer feels like an outcast. Soon, the close bond between the two sisters begins to dissolve. Lyric always knew that Summer was a bit odd, but now Summer withdraws more and more into a fantasy world.

In 1677, 12-year-old Meg loves working with her widowed father in his London bookshop. When she grows up, she will inherit the shop. Then she will be independent and can choose her own husband. But her father remarries, and Meg’s plans are suddenly in ruins. Based on careful research, this novel offers a brilliantly detailed panorama of Restoration London and a view of women’s roles in that era.