Short Family

Emma never wanted a family. Until she did. As a nurse practitioner, Emmaline is used to helping other people. She likes her job but is lonely. When her life is devastated by the death of a close friend, Emma finds a new purpose in life—becoming a mother. But will her heart be broken by grief again? If it is, and she is all alone, how will she survive?

Polly’s fourth-grade daughter has been spending a lot of time with her classmate Sylvie—maybe too much. Sylvie’s clothes are a little…flashy…and her phone (a ten-year-old with a phone!) doesn’t seem to have any parental controls. It seems that Sylvie’s mother, with her vape pens and her too-high heels, may not be making good choices. As Polly tries to exert a positive influence, she discovers just how little anyone can tell about a family from the outside.

Eugeena Patterson is marrying her neighbor and companion Amos Jones. Her family and friends are happy to finally see the couple walk down the aisle. But there’s something missing. Since his wife’s death, Amos has been estranged from his two daughters. Eugeena encourages Amos to reach out to his daughters by inviting them to spend Christmas with him.

New England is an area rich in historical homes where one is bound to run into spirits that wander the halls or show up in the most unlikely places. The stories in this collection came from actual paranormal events that either my family, friends, or I have experienced. A few stories are written more closely to what actually happened, and I took creative liberty with others.

Listen to four stories about Rosa and her family: "A Chair for My Mother" (A Caldecott Honor Book); "Something Special for Me"; "Music, Music for Everyone"; and "A Chair for Always". This collection also includes "Cherries and Cherry Pits" and an interview with the author.

In It's All Love, black writers celebrate the complexity, power, danger, and glory of love in all its many forms: romantic, familial, communal, and sacred.

Karen Neulander, a successful New York political consultant, has always been fiercely protective of her son, Jacob, now six. She's had to be; when Jacob's father, Dave, found out Karen was pregnant and made it clear that fatherhood wasn't in his plans, Karen walked out of the relationship, never telling Dave her intention was to raise their child alone. But now Jake is asking to meet his dad, and with good reason: Karen is dying.

On Ash Wednesday in 1908, Swiss German immigrant Fritz Hirter arrives at his children’s school, where he is the lone custodian. But soon after lessons start, a fast-moving fire breaks out—its cause is unknown, but its effects are horrifying. Although Fritz is soon cleared of any responsibility for the catastrophe, the community continues to suspect him, supremely testing Fritz and his family.

The Foster family is stuck in their home with a strange young girl...but when a mad man shows up looking for her she's not where they left her. He just wants his victim and they just want him gone.

A young man who's afraid to come out of the closet but has no other choice in "Dad, I'm Gay". Say good-bye to Cassie in "I'll Dance at Your Wedding". Love can be deadly in "I Only Have Eyes for You".

Way up in the highest, most private part of the forest, a small family of giant pandas made their home. This panda family loved to tell stories to each other. Sometimes the stories were true. Sometimes they weren't. That was part of the fun - guessing which stories were true and which weren't.

We need heroes. We need examples of what right looks like, where we can see a principle put into action and then observe the results. The farmer's law is eternally true, “You reap what you sow”. What are the consequences of a life lived with audacity, integrity, and thankfulness? We can look to Patton, Regulus, and Helen Keller to find out. What is the outcome if we persevere, and live nobly, with zeal? Ed Coan, George Washington, and Amelia Earhart show us. They say, you sow a thought; you reap an action.

This groundbreaking anthology presents 40 narratives, both nonfiction and fiction, that together capture the impact and complexity of Alzheimer’s and other dementias on patients, as well as their caregivers and family. Deeply personal, recounting the wrenching course of a disease that kills a loved one twice - first they forget who they are, and then the body succumbs - these stories also show how witnessing the disease and caring for someone with it can be powerfully transformative, calling forth amazing strength and grace.

Get the entire Favorite Coffee series in one bundle.

Former fireman Larry Davison covers his burn scars well, by working at an elementary school as a custodian, where he finds a lost hound dog behind the dumpster. Fashion designer Jenna Hart is in town to do a charity fashion show, when she loses her top model, Little Treat. When Larry turns up with the puppy, she asks him to be in the show and bachelor auction. Larry's not sure he belongs in a fashion show, and balks at being her good deed. Can Jenna convince Larry, beauty is never skin deep, and love's arrow strikes not only the beautiful, but the bold?

Everything has come to this one moment, this one night. The plan is ready to be executed. The sexy, dark billionaire Sean Ferro is at my side and in my bed. As the erotic tension between us deepens, I see the man he could be - the man he's becoming. Sean has me in every possible way and swears to protect me from my enemies.

A story about a boy in the projects of a negative city who sees his mom struggle with a broken-down car and no means of transportation and appreciates his mom every morning for taking him to school and going to work every day. One day the boy returns home very successful and buys his mom her dream car and thanks her for always being there.

The Peterkin Papers record the antics of the most memorably and hopelessly bumbling of respectable American families. Confronted by the endless challenges of daily life, the Peterkins rise to every occasion with misguided aplomb: they sit out in the sun for hours and fail to go for a ride because they've forgotten to unhitch the horse.

There's no doubt in my mind that Bryan Ferro is serious - if I don't sleep with him, he'll destroy me. Everything I've earned will be blown away like dust, and my life will no longer be my own. His demand for just one night rolls into days. He doesn't want me for a one-time fling, it's more than that.

In a compellingly honest collection of stories, multiple-award-winning author Avi introduces seven boys - boys with fathers at home and boys whose fathers have left, boys who spend most of their time with their grandfathers and boys who would rather spend time with anyone but the men in their lives. By turns heartbreaking, hopeful, and funny, the stories show us boys seeking acceptance, guidance, or just someone to look up to.