No More Slooping, Sara Sue!


Book Description

Sara Sue's favorite food is soup. She eats it every day, and she makes a loud slurping noise with every bite. The sound bothers her friends and family so much, they make up a word to describe it, slooping! Can Sara Sue solve her slurpy, slooping problem? Find out in this playful story that mixes a dash of silly words with a pinch or two of tongue twisters. Plus... inside this special edition you'll find two of Sara Sue's favorite soup recipes that you can make at home.




Happenstance


Book Description

Happenstance is a small town located in an underground ice-enclosed cavern. Two weeks before Christmas, everyone busily completes the final touches on shopping and planning attire, as well as practicing new dance steps for the dinner finale of the year. In anticipation of Santa’s Christmas Eve ride, excitement seems to be everywhere ... until Uncle Hermes goes missing. The door to Mobil Land has been left ajar, and its interior is in shambles. These are not habits Uncle Hermes would abide. Robye Jax is the son of one of Happenstance’s founders. From early childhood, he has been educated in the discipline of scientific expression, so he recognizes the signs. There is no question: the ice moles are on the move. Every twelve years, the ice moles migrate through the cavern walls to reproduce. Forming into colonies of thousands, they activate in sync and begin a chaotic activity called “whorling.” The snow bobbies are capable of detecting the eminent whorling event, and they’ve been sending Robye frantic messages of warning. Oh, yes, Robye knows why Uncle Hermes has gone missing, and he now must get him back before Christmas is destroyed.




Broomstraw Ridge


Book Description

In this suspenseful story of the late nineteenth century, Joseph Cook upends his life after the murder of his closest friend by a man who escapes justice. Leaving his thirty-year railroad career in mid-stride, he returns to the New River landscape of his Appalachian youth. There he hopes to buy a farm, reunite with what's left of his family, and find peace. An expert in bridge construction, Joseph finds the building of personal bridges surpasses his ability. His goals are further thwarted by unexpected obstacles and diverted by a reunion with a childhood friend who opens doors to pain and possibility. The novel explores the natural longing for peace, home, and family, a quest that ultimately forces Joseph to abandon his planned path and face daunting adversity. In doing so, he learns that justice and love denied can become justice and love delayed but finally won. Letting go of their pursuit may not equate with giving up.




Land of Smoke


Book Description

"Land of Smoke is one of my favourite books by one of my favourite Argentinian authors." – Samanta Schweblin, author of Seven Empty Houses Dazzling, hallucinatory short stories by a rediscovered Argentinian contemporary of García Márquez, whose groundbreaking novel January is being published in English for the first time Resplendent with otherworldly imagery and beguiling prose, Land of Smoke presents a uniquely compelling voice in Latin American literature. An old man wakes up one morning to find that his beloved garden, the envy of all his neighbours, is floating away with him on board. A young woman moves to Buenos Aires, bringing with her a replacement head. A meek German missionary leaves Paraguay for the Pampas, completely unprepared for what he will encounter there. Dazzling and hallucinatory, the stories collected here recall the masters of magical realism ­– but with Gallardo’s distinctive, idiosyncratic slant.




The Gentle Sleep Book


Book Description

The Gentle Sleep Book offers gentle, reassuring and effective solutions to addressing the common sleep problems of newborns to five-year-olds. 'This book should be called The Sleep Bible and needs to be in every parent's bedside drawer' Marneta Viegas, founder of Relax Kids Are you exhausted by your baby's night-time waking or frustrated by your toddler's reluctance to go to bed? Would you prefer a gentler approach than sleep-training techniques such as controlled crying or pick up/put down? The first five years of parenting are filled with worries and preoccupations, but, for the vast majority, none of them is as pressing as the lack of sleep. In this revised and updated edition of her bestselling book, Sarah Ockwell-Smith offers a gentle, effective prescription for addressing the common sleep challenges encountered by parents of newborns to five-year-olds. Treading a carefully balanced line between the needs of sleep-deprived parents and those of the child, Sarah offers reliable, evidence-based advice including: *How long we can expect our children to sleep at each stage of development. *Why much of the popular advice on sleep is inaccurate and counterproductive. *How to approach common issues including frequent waking, night terrors and bedtime refusal. Sarah's practical suggestions for each developmental stage include how to create a consistent bedtime routine and optimal conditions for sleep, the effect of diet, and how to use comfort objects effectively. This revised and updated edition includes new chapters providing specific advice on daytime naps (when and how to drop them) and how to take care of your own needs and emotions during the early years of disrupted sleep, because your feelings and health matter too.




The Sense of an Ending


Book Description

BOOKER PRIZE WINNER • NATIONAL BESTSELLER • A novel that follows a middle-aged man as he contends with a past he never much thought about—until his closest childhood friends return with a vengeance: one of them from the grave, another maddeningly present. A novel so compelling that it begs to be read in a single setting, The Sense of an Ending has the psychological and emotional depth and sophistication of Henry James at his best, and is a stunning achievement in Julian Barnes's oeuvre. Tony Webster thought he left his past behind as he built a life for himself, and his career has provided him with a secure retirement and an amicable relationship with his ex-wife and daughter, who now has a family of her own. But when he is presented with a mysterious legacy, he is forced to revise his estimation of his own nature and place in the world.




Sara's Story and the Impact of Alzheimer's


Book Description

Sara would choose to be remembered for the person she was-a whole person having lived a full, productive life. She was far more than one who succumbed to Alzheimer's disease. Her story is of one who overcame obstacles by virtue of her inherent gifts. She made her mark as a faithful wife, mother, and exemplary educator. In her chosen field of speech therapy, she was trained by pioneering professionals who found in her the perfect disciple. Sara touched the lives directly and indirectly of many thousands of children in a vital way. That way was through helping children and youth to build their speech and language skills. She constantly emphasized the pragmatics of communication-communication that was practical, effective, and facilitative of positive interpersonal relationships. She had health problems to contend with and she did so with courage. In later life, she was able to deal with Alzheimer's in a dignified way. She had the aid of others in doing so. Particularly, she had her husband who stood by her, demonstrating the power of love. The story of this love is told dramatically through her husband's journal written during the crucial years of their battle with this tragic disease.




Not Thomas


Book Description

Tomos lives with his mother, and sometimes her boyfriend. He longs to return to another place, a place he thinks of as home, and the people who lived with him there. And for Cwtch, who he had to leave behind, too. He knows that there are some things he cannot talk about - except to Cwtch - and then, just before Christmas, the difficult things come to a head. There are men outside who want to come in, and his mum has said not to answer the door. From behind his chair, Tomos waits, trying to make himself small and quiet. He doesn't think it's Santa Claus this time. When the men break in, Tomos's world is turned on its head and the adults around him must fight to make it right again.




Saving Sara


Book Description

For nearly fifty years, Sara Somers suffered from untreated food addiction. In this brutally honest and intimate memoir, Somers offers readers an inside view of a food addict’s mind, showcasing her experiences of obsessive cravings, compulsivity, and powerlessness regarding food. Saving Sara chronicles Somers’s addiction from childhood to adulthood, beginning with abnormal eating as a nine-year-old. As her addiction progresses in young adulthood, she becomes isolated, masking her shame and self-hatred with drugs and alcohol. Time and again, she rationalizes why this time will be different, only to have her physical cravings lead to ever-worse binges, to see her promises of doing things differently next time broken, and to experience the amnesia that she—like every addict—experiences when her obsession sets in again. Even after Somers is introduced to the solution that will eventually end up saving her, the strength of her addiction won’t allow her to accept her disease. Twenty-six more years pass until she finally crawls on hands and knees back to that solution, and learns to live life on life’s terms. A raw account of Somers’s decades-long journey, Saving Sara underscores the challenges faced by food addicts of any age—and the hope that exists for them all.




Alphabet of Faith


Book Description

Alphabet of Faith explores what it means to live a life of faith and spirit in the 21st century in the context of Jesus’ commandment to love one another. Weaving together faith and culture, this breathtaking book explores what it means to live a life of faith and spirit in the 21st century. It brings together 26 “words” – such as energy, justice, liminal space, and X marks the spot – that reflect the challenges and joys of living in our beautiful but broken and often brutal world. It is unwaveringly contemporary, progressive, and thought-provoking. The pieces are written for those who say they are spiritual but not religious, for people who are or may be familiar with church but perhaps don’t attend anymore, for those who know Jesus and his teachings and are familiar with the Bible, even if they haven’t opened it in a while. Ultimately, these 26 “words” are for questioners and doubters who believe in kindness, mercy, and justice, as well as in science, and who seek a spiritual path that is inclusive and welcoming of conversation and transformation.