Life Tragedy

How do you establish a “new normal” when life is shattered by hardship? When you learn how to harness the power of grief, and allow the pain to add purpose to your life, the result is a life you never could have imagined. This is the book author Mishael Porembski wishes she had when she suddenly found herself a pregnant widow, giving birth two months after her husband’s death, then soon grieving the loss of her mother.

In a courageous debut novel, Holly M. McGhee explores the loss that shakes one girl's world - and the unexpected consequences of the things we do for love.

In 2008, Bridgid suffered severe traumatic brain injury following a bicycle accident. Her life resumed as if she were a three-year-old having to relearn many of the life skills that she lost as a result of her injury. This story chronicles her journey - waxing and waning - toward healing.

Twenty literary luminaries, ranging from Charles Dickens and William Shakespeare to Louisa May Alcott and Mark Twain, are profiled in this entertaining and informative collection. Winner of A School Library Journal's Book of the Year Award, Lives of the Writers is both an indispensable reference tool and an exhilarating gossipfest. Author Kathleen Krull makes learning fun, painting realistic portraits of Hans Christian Andersen, Edgar Allan Poe, Frances Hodgson Burnett, the Brontë sisters, Emily Dickinson, E.B. White, Jack London, Murasaki Shikibu, Miguel de Cervantes, Robert Louis Stevenson, Jane Austen, and more. Krull serves up an outstanding introduction to the classics of literature for the whole family, while telling us all the real stories behind their writers.

It's a most unusual story. Father was gone, and Mother was dying from TB. That left Grandmother Anna, who was older than dirt, trying to raise three little girls without two nickels to rub together. It was 1933, in the middle of the depression. We lived in Queens, NY, and let me tell you, times were hard. I was five years old when The Fresh Air Fund’s summer program had an unexpected opening. Those two weeks I spent in Delaware changed my life forever.

At some point in your life, you will contemplate the end and question what it is like to depart from the only thing you’ve known. Hesitation and uncertainty might consume you to the core, or a sensation of comfort and contentment will set you free. In Four Seasons, Chris Widener shares the relatable journey of Jonathan Blake and his family through a year in their life, confronted with unavoidable tragedy. After he is diagnosed with cancer, Jonathan reflects on the growth of his children, watching them take life into their own hands and create light in the darkest of times.

Travel with one heartbroken family as they struggle to find help for their son, face unspeakable tragedy, receive unexpected forgiveness, and deal with the aftermath of a child whose mental health issues ended in calamity...and transformation. Discover the confidence that buoys author Joan Becker and her family as they push for reform in the broken mental health system before more lives are ruined. Their story offers hope, help, and heart-felt compassion.

The smoke was thick, the music was loud, and the beer was flowing. In the fast-and-loose 1980s, Jackson Station Rhythm and Blues Club in Hodges, South Carolina, was a festive late-night roadhouse filled with people from all walks of life who gathered to listen to the live music of high-energy performers. The good times ground to a terrifying halt in the early morning hours of April 7, 1990. A brutal attack - an apparent hate crime - on the owner Gerald Jackson forever altered the lives of all involved.

Skate Tate has a good life. She has close friends, a loving family, and her beloved Great Uncle Mort. However, Skate has to figure out the new world of Biddle Middle, where eighth graders rule, old friendships start to change, and a sixth-grader has to struggle to make a place for herself. Then other, more painful changes arise for the Tates. This story of how this close knit family responds to tragedy will move and delight listeners everywhere.