Ain't No Bears Out Tonight


Book Description




Are We There Yet?


Book Description

"Are we there yet?" The answer should always be "Yes!" because the stated destination is a small part of the trip. Wherever we are, there is much to see and do and learn. We are always "there." Such it is with life. The author has written about being "there" for almost nine exciting decades from 1930 to 2020.




Soul Exposed


Book Description

For this generation of Moms, there is no cookie-cutter mold for how motherhood should be or, more importantly, how it should appear to be. These days, whether we moms have a career or stay at home with our kids, whether we are single, married, divorced, or widowed, we are forging a new path in motherhood. Perhaps most importantly, this generation of moms is releasing the need to be perfect all the time, and is embracing the notion that we can have balance in our life (most days). This new breed of moms understands that this frees up the time and energy necessary to pursue growth in ourselves outside motherhood. Furthermore, we are learning to shake off guilt and celebrate the imperfections in our daily lives. This empowers us to redefine ourselves, to use our gifts and talents to create a purposeful vision for our lives outside motherhood. Finally, we are becoming champions of our own lives, awakening the "champreneurs" within ourselves. We are grateful for the sacrifices our mothers, grandmothers, and great-grandmothers made to get us to this point. We are merely standing on their shoulders. Without them we are nothing; our gratitude to them is everything. But rather than looking behind us for affirmation, today's mothers lean on, support, and empower each other. No guilt allowed. Mommy Magic gives these moms an encouraging pat on the back, a good laugh, and affirmation that being real is important. It gives moms permission to admit that motherhood is not perfect; it is, in fact, a journey. Mommy Magic is meant to be a humorous and inspirational guide to living in chaos, an empowering and easy read to squeeze in while waiting in the carpool line. Most of all, Mommy Magic is meant as a vehicle for mothers to share, talk and laugh over the fact that nobody is perfect all the time.




Island of Spies


Book Description

"The Dime Novel Kids are spunky, spirited, smart, sassy—and so is Sheila Turnage’s writing. It sizzles and sparkles." —Lauren Wolk, author of Newbery Honor Book Wolf Hollow From the Newbery Honor-winning author of Three Times Lucky comes a middle grade WWII spy mystery with as much humor and heart as high stakes Twelve-year-old Stick Lawson lives on Hatteras Island, North Carolina, where life moves steady as the tides, and mysteries abound as long as you look really hard for them. Stick and her friends Rain and Neb are good at looking hard. They call themselves the Dime Novel Kids. And the only thing Stick wants more than a paying case for them to solve is the respect that comes with it. But on Hatteras, the tides are changing. World War II looms, curious newcomers have appeared on the small island, and in the waters off its shores, a wartime menace lurks that will upend Stick’s life and those of everyone she loves. The Dimes are about to face more mysteries than they ever could have wished for, and risk more than they ever could have imagined. “Big, beautifully unfolding adventure and mystery, [and characters] who jump off the page and straight into your heart.” —Kimberly Willis Holt, author of National Book Award Winner When Zachary Beaver Came to Town “Fast-paced and suspenseful. The story contains many twists, and it’s packed with humor.” —The Week Junior “Charming and funny, [abounding in] codes and clues, spies, and double agents. —PW "Smart kids save the day in this engaging WWII spy mystery." —Common Sense Media "Lively narration will quickly draw readers into the story, which twists and turns cleverly. —Booklist “A little-known piece of American history [makes for] an entertaining saga of island life.” —Kirkus "Funny, crisp, and clever." —The Horn Book “Stick is the kind of protagonist I wish was my best friend . . . . I can’t get enough of her.” —Gennifer Choldenko, author of Newbery Honor Book Al Capone Does My Shirts




Chinaberries and Beyond


Book Description

Patricia is born during WWII when racial segregation is a way of life, particularly in the south. A few years earlier in the small cotton mill town her father’s poor judgment forces her parents and eventually their eight children to live in a crude, unpainted, three-room dwelling located in an isolated area of four houses for African Americans. They have no electricity or running water, and a stone-covered spring in the woods becomes a special place for mischief. A single tree, a chinaberry, adjacent to the house serves many purposes. Home, church, and school are the Littletons’ family core, while their experiences are laced with fun, humor, and mischief. However, when temperamental Hazel, an adult bully, moves next door, there are conflicts, which escalate into unnerving, dangerous situations, especially with Patricia’s easygoing, soft-spoken mother. Hazel ridicules Patricia, who is smart, timid, and labeled a crybaby and stubborn in school. By high school, Patricia blossoms and becomes popular, but later her father warns her of wooden nickels. www.chinaberriesandbeyond.com




Keeper of the Doves


Book Description

Amen McBee, the youngest of five sisters, gobbles up words the way other children gobble up sweets. She couldn't be more different from her elder twin sisters Arabella and Annabella-called the Bellas. The mischievous Bellas constantly frighten Amen with stories of Mr. Tominski-the old recluse who lives in the woods nearby and mysteriously tends to a flock of doves. The Bellas insist that Mr. Tominski is a dangerous bogeyman who eats children whole, but Papa vows that the "keeper of the doves" wouldn't hurt a soul. When tragedy strikes the family Amen must decide once and for all who is right.




Ain't No Bears Out Tonight


Book Description

A middle-aged woman is brutally raped and murdered in 1951 in the North Carolina town of Piedmont. Through flashbacks to 1899, secrets about her past and the history of the town are revealed.




Ride On, King! Ride On!


Book Description

The title of the Book was inspired by my mother’s praise during storms. At the height of storms, she would lift her arms, wave her hands and say, “Ride on, King! Ride on!” In this way, she acknowledged that God was in control of the storm! The Collection was inspired by experiences, dreams, and things pondered. Emotionally and spiritually, many of these were storms as well. But as with the natural storms, the Lord Jesus presided over them all.




Millways of Kent


Book Description

The Kent Trilogy, consisting of Blackways of Kent (1955), Millways of Kent (1958), and the previously unpublished Townways of Kent, forms a remarkable southern ethnography that maps the social stratification of the Piedmont mill town of York, South Carolina, in the late 1940s, after the effects of the Great Depression and preceding the coming civil rights era. In 1946 the University of North Carolina's Institute for Research in Social Science commissioned a series of southern community studies under the direction of anthropologist John Gillin from which these volumes resulted. This Southern Classics edition is expanded with a new preface by John Shelton Reed on the origins and impact of the Kent Trilogy and a new introduction by Dan Huntley assessing the lasting importance of Morland's telling case study. The volume is further supplemented with a 1995 interview with Morland and his wife detailing their experiences with the "Kent" research and including photographs from the period.




The Glory Girl


Book Description

DIVAnna’s role in her family of gospel singers is an important one—far away from the stage/divDIV Every member of the Glory family is blessed with abundant musical talent. Everyone, that is, except for Anna. She can’t sing or play an instrument, so the family counts on her to sell their music at performances. Naturally, she feels completely left out. When her black sheep Uncle Newt is released from prison, Anna feels oddly close to him, even though they’ve never met before. After all, Newt must know what it means to feel like an outsider. But when the Glorys’ tour bus crashes and her loved ones are in danger, Anna can’t sit on the outside any longer./divDIV /divDIVThe Glory Girl is a funny, moving tale of one oddball kid finding her place in her family, and in the world./divDIV /divDIVThis ebook features an illustrated biography of Betsy Byars including rare images from the author’s personal collection./div