The Brave Journey


Book Description

A twelve-year-old boy stumbles upon a secret cave of talking animals and learns this dog was their king. Benjamin and his animal friends embark on a dangerous journey to destroy a monster before it returns to kill them all.




Emily's Story


Book Description

It seems incomprehensible that there was a time in America s not-so-distant past that nearly 200,000 children could be loaded on trains in large cities on our East Coast, sent to the rural Midwest, and presented for the picking to anyone who expressed an interest in them. That's exactly what happened between the years 1854 and 1930. The primitive social experiment became known as placing out, and had its origins in a New York City organization founded by Charles Loring Brace called the Children's Aid Society. The Society gathered up orphans, half-orphans, and abandoned children from streets and orphanages, and placed them on what are now referred to as Orphan Trains. It was Brace s belief that there was always room for one more at a farmer s table. The stories of the individual children involved in this great migration of little emigrants have nearly all been lost in the attic of American history. In this book, the author tells the true story of his paternal grandmother, the late Emily (Reese) Kidder, who, at the tender age of fourteen, became one of the aforementioned children who rode an Orphan Train. In 1906, Emily was plucked from the Elizabeth Home for Girls, operated by the Children's Aid Society, and placed on a train, along with eight other children, bound for Hopkinton, Iowa. Emily s journey, as it turned out, was only just beginning. Life had many lessons in store for her lessons that would involve overcoming adversity, of perseverance, love, and great loss. Emily's story is told through the use of primary material, oral history, interviews, and historical photographs. It is a tribute to the human spirit of an extraordinary young girl who became a woman a woman to whom the heartfelt phrase there s no place like home, had a very profound meaning.




Brave Journeys


Book Description

In Stranger Among Friends, renowned activist, political adviser, and White House insider David Mixner offered a compelling account of his decades-long fight for human rights and the challenges he faced as a gay man in Washington. Now, in this new book written with collaborator Dennis Bailey, Mixner presents moving, candid, and inspiring portraits of other extraordinary men and women engaged in the struggle for equality. Brave Journeys: Profiles in Gay and Lesbian Courage From a top-gun pilot in the U.S. Navy to an authority on antigay violence, from a member of the president's administration to a leading Shakespearean actor, Brave Journeys tells the stirring stories of seven intrepid men and women who effectively challenged the status quo and thereby altered the political and societal landscape of the world we live in. In these pages we meet Hispanic-American Dianne Hardy-Garcia, executive director of the Lesbian and Gay Rights Lobby of Texas and a passionate crusader against hate crimes; Elaine Noble, the feisty veteran of Boston's busing wars who became the first openly gay person to be elected to a state office in the United States-the Massachusetts State Legislature; brilliant British actor Sir Ian McKellen, who came out as a gay man and an activist in one very public moment on the BBC; Roberta Achtenberg, who braved the venomous homophobia of Jesse Helms in Senate confirmation hearings for her appointment to the Department of Housing and Urban Development; Lieutenant Tracy Thorne, a Navy fighter pilot living his lifelong dream of flight who outed himself on Nightline to challenge the U.S. military's policy against gays and lesbians, fully aware that this would mean the end of his Navy career; and San Franciscans Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon, founders of the first national lesbian organization, the Daughters of Bilitis, who have celebrated fifty years together as a couple. Powerful and eloquent, Brave Journeys is David Mixner's tribute to gay men and lesbians who have made a difference. Rich in private bravery and public risk, these profiles comprise a vivid map of the gay rights movement over the last fifty years-and individually they testify to the power of courage to force change against profoundly overwhelming odds.




Be Brave, Be Strong


Book Description

Jill Homer has an outlandish ambition: Racing a mountain bike 2,740 miles from Canada to Mexico along the Continental Divide. But her dream starts to unravel the minute she sets it in motion. An accident on the Iditarod Trail results in serious frostbite. She struggles with painful recovery and growing uncertainties. Then, just two days before their departure, her boyfriend ends their eight-year relationship, dismantling everything Jill thought she knew about life, love and her identity. This is the story of an adventure driven relentlessly forward as foundations crumble. During her record-breaking ride in the 2009 Tour Divide, Jill battles a torrent of anger, self-doubt, fatigue, loneliness, pain, grief, bicycle failures, crashes and violent storms. Each night, she collapses under the crushing effort of this savage new way of life. And every morning, she picks up the pieces and strikes out to find what lies on the other side of the Divide: Astonishing beauty, unconditional kindness, and boundless strength.




Home of the Brave


Book Description

Bestselling author Katherine Applegate presents Home of the Brave, a beautifully wrought middle grade novel about an immigrant's journey from hardship to hope. Kek comes from Africa. In America he sees snow for the first time, and feels its sting. He's never walked on ice, and he falls. He wonders if the people in this new place will be like the winter – cold and unkind. In Africa, Kek lived with his mother, father, and brother. But only he and his mother have survived, and now she's missing. Kek is on his own. Slowly, he makes friends: a girl who is in foster care; an old woman who owns a rundown farm, and a cow whose name means "family" in Kek's native language. As Kek awaits word of his mother's fate, he weathers the tough Minnesota winter by finding warmth in his new friendships, strength in his memories, and belief in his new country. Home of the Brave is a 2008 Bank Street - Best Children's Book of the Year.




Journey Among Brave Men


Book Description

A gripping account of an award-winning journalist’s journey into the heart of rebel territory during the First Iraqi-Kurdish War. On July 4, 1962, New York Times foreign correspondent Dana Adams Schmidt left his post in Beirut to be voluntarily smuggled into Iraqi Kurdistan. It was the beginning of a nearly two-month journey that would climax in a days-long visit with the leader of the Kurdish rebellion, the most loved and feared man in Kurdistan, Mullah Mustafa Barzani. Accompanied by armed Kurdish guides and a 72-year-old Turkish interpreter, the six-feet-three-inch, seersucker-suit-clad Schmidt traveled, often at night, a secret route by foot, mule, horse and, on two occasions, jeep into the high Kurdish mountains to report on “the fightingest people in the Middle East” as no foreign journalist had done before. The physical dangers were acute—his group was strafed more than once by the Iraqi air force. Along the way, Schmidt learned about the history and culture of the Kurds, whose cause Barzani hoped Schmidt could convey to the world. Originally published in 1964 and now back in print with a new foreword by historian Charles Glass, Journey Among Brave Men is an enduring testament to the power of audacious journalism and to the strong will of the Kurds, an embattled people who remain in search of an independent state today. “One can only marvel at the author’s indefatigable industry and power of enthusi­asm, which makes him one of the most reliable of all daily paper reporters . . . An excellent, fair and patently honest piece of work.”—The New York Times




Eddie's Brave Journey


Book Description

Eddie is a young elephant whose grandpa has died. As he experiences great big feelings, he wonders what to do. Setting out on a brave journey, Eddie learns from other animals about the feelings of grief and how to help his heart begin healing.




Quester


Book Description

A new interpretation of the Tarot, with a Native American theme, which includes 79 cards and detailed descriptions of each on easy-to-use spreads.




Be the Brave One


Book Description

On September 11, 2001, Ann Kansfield, a successful Wall Street broker who had spent years laying a path of achievements, stood on the doorstep of profound change. The city she loved was in turmoil, and a calling to help others was emerging from deep within her. Part memoir and part spiritual formation guide, Kansfield's Be the Brave One relays her stunning transformation from a "run-of-the-mill capitalist jerk" into a wife, mother, and pastor committed to feeding the poor at her church in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. The first female and openly gay chaplain at the New York Fire Department, and voted the inaugural New York Times New Yorker of the Year, Kansfield uses her characteristic wit and knack for accessible storytelling to reveal how an adventurous faith rooted in living out your convictions can bring about radical change in the world. From authenticity and courage, to perseverance and gratitude, in Kansfield's journey you will find the insight and tools to name and claim your own core spiritual values. Ultimately, Kansfield's story will leave readers both comforted and challenged to discover and live out their own faith rooted in open-hearted conviction.




Books by Horseback


Book Description

"Capturing one librarian's breathtaking fictional journey is a riveting way to showcase and honor the risky work of these real librarians, and the text communicates a deep reverence for their mission-and their tremendous fortitude. Illustrations depict a pale, red-haired librarian, nearly always smiling despite the obstacles that nature puts in her path. Light and shadow are used effectively to convey Mother Earth's shifting moods... Educational and inspiring." -Kirkus Reviews Books By Horseback is a breathtaking adventure of a heroic Pack Horse Librarian who braves the harsh terrain of rural Kentucky to bring books to children who need them. Deep into Appalachia, during the Great Depression food, education, and opportunities were scarce. Kentucky had fallen behind its neighboring states in electricity and highways, and the folks who lived in the craggy, mountainous region were struggling to survive. But courageous librarians were up to the challenge! Edith, a young Pack Horse Librarian, and her faithful horse Dan, adventure through rough terrain and a pending storm in order to deliver books to kids who desperately need them in this richly illustrated tale. Edith, like all Pack Horse Librarians, heroically risked their own safety to serve the most vulnerable members of their community. Librarians like Edith helped an entire generation learn to read and gain lifesaving knowledge in a critical time in history.