*Audio Enhanced Read-Along EbookCan empathy be taught? The importance of empathy and its impact are explored in A Girl Named October. The title character, October, is ever present as the narrator navigates a life without realizing how even the smallest memories, interactions, and expressions can impact a very large, and often imposing, world. Touching the world is no longer an abstract idea, but a concrete action that reveals how everything we do affects everyone around us. Lighthearted in its approach, but powerful in its message, this book tells a story that will spur conversations with children and adults alike.
_______________ WINNER OF THE YOTO CARNEGIE MEDAL 2022 WINNER OF THE YOTO CARNEGIE SHADOWERS' CHOICE AWARD 2022 _______________ 'A very special new addition to the shelf and deserves classic status' - The Times Children's Book of the Week 'A modern classic ... relevant, comforting and life-affirming' - Scotsman 'The perfect Autumn read' - Primary Teacher Bookshelf _______________ A classic in the making for anyone who ever longed to be WILD. October and her dad live in the woods. They know the trees and the rocks and the lake and stars like best friends. They live in the woods and they are wild. And that's the way it is. Until the year October turns eleven. That's the year October rescues a baby owl. It's the year Dad falls out of the biggest tree in their woods. The year the woman who calls herself October's mother comes back. The year everything changes. Written in Katya Balen's heart-stoppingly beautiful style, this book is a feast for the senses. And, as October fights to find the space to be wild in the whirling chaos of the world beyond the woods, it is also a feast for the soul.
All Hamlet Kennedy wants is to be a normal eighth grader. But with parents like hers - Shakespearean scholars who actually dress in Elizabethan regalia . . . in public! - it's not that easy. As if they weren't strange enough, her genius seven-year-old sister will be attending her middle school, and is named the new math tutor. Then, when the Shakespeare Project is announced, Hamlet reveals herself to be an amazing actress. Even though she wants to be average, Hamlet can no longer hide from the fact that she- like her family - is anything but ordinary.
_________________________________Two women - desperate to unlock the truth.How far will they go to lay the past to rest?ANNAhas been taught that virtue is the path to God. But on her eighteenth birthday she defies her Mamma?s rules and visits Florida?s biggest theme park. She has never been allowed to go - so why, when she arrives, does everything seem so familiar? And is there a connection to the mysterious letter she receives on the same day?ROSIEhas grown up in the shadow of the missing sister she barely remembers, her family fractured by years of searching without leads.Now, on the fifteenth anniversary of her sister?s disappearance, the media circus resumes in full flow, and Rosie vows to uncover the truth. But will she find the answer before it tears her family apart?
Nikki Grimes, a bestselling author known for titles such as Dark Sons, Barak Obama: Son of Promise, Child of Hope, and Voices of Christmas has written a gripping book from the perspective of a girl named Mister (Mary Rudine) who finds herself momentarily distracted from her faith commitment to purity by a handsome boy named Trey. After one night of weakness, Mister finds her entire life has changed, even if she can’t yet accept all the changes occurring within her are real. When the emotional scars of losing her innocence are more lasting than she imagined, Mister turns to a book of her mother’s, which contains poems from Mary’s perspective. As both Mister and Mary’s voices play out in the story, a full and meaningful portrait of Christian faith, trust, and forgiveness emerges, along with the truth that God can use even the most unplanned events in our lives for his greater glory.
Based on a true story, A Girl Named Nina paints a vivid portrait of life in 1960s Brooklyn. Nina grows up in a tenement with Puerto Rican parents who came to America seeking a better life. Her father adores and protects her, teaches her to read, and encourages the many gifts he sees within her. Her mother is nurturing in her own way, as she struggles quietly with her own difficult past. Keenly aware of her surroundings from a very young age, Nina learns about the joys of childhood from a fourth-floor windowsill in her parents' apartment. Still too young to jump rope and play stick ball with children on the busy street below, she witnesses life from within the halls of her building-including physical and sexual abuse-but tells no one what she has seen. For Nina, the joys of coming of age are tempered with life's many harsh realities: her parents' separation, physical abuse, a friend's drug use, her best friend's murder, and the poverty that surrounds them all. Yet her spirit remains undaunted. Nina will not abandon her dream-her lifelong desire to become a doctor and rise above the hardships she has known, so that she can help guide others to a brighter future.
Digit attends MIT, where she hopes to lead a normal life. But Jonas Furnace, the ecoterrorist she foiled before, knows where she is, and he's gunning for her.
Jerrie Marcus Smith remembers her great aunt Carrie as a humorless woman who always wore black and who, Jerrie says, "scared me to death." Only as an adult did Jerrie grasp the impact of Carrie Marcus Neiman. Along with her brother, Herbert Marcus Sr., and her husband A.L. Neiman, Carrie co-founded in 1907 the famed Neiman Marcus department store in Dallas, Texas. Carrie played an integral role in the store''s success, despite having three strikes against her: she was a woman, she was Jewish, and (after her husband''s illicit relationship with a second-floor saleswoman) she was divorced. Yet with impeccable taste and exemplary manners, she traveled as a buyer to New York in the 1920s (without a man!) and, as Jerrie says, "was nobody''s pushover." Carrie was self-taught and never attended college. Her only pregnancy ended in miscarriage; she worked at Neiman Marcus until her death at age 66. Yet through memories shared by her father, the late Neiman Marcus legend Stanley Marcus, as well as through spellbinding interviews with long retired salespeople, Jerrie has felt inextricably tied to Carrie. Each recollection of Aunt Carrie, each remembrance, each detail melted away Jerrie''s childhood fear of the stern woman in black, leaving in its place a colorful portrait of a person to be admired, to be loved and--perhaps most of all--to be shared. "This captivating portrait of a strong and elegant woman will take you through fashion into the journey of a changing America and the birth of its most prestigious store, Neiman Marcus."--Diane von Furstenberg, fashion designer, philanthropist "A Girl Named Carrie is essential reading for everyone who admires the establishment and growth of the iconic Neiman Marcus, which set the standard for the American department store era and influenced stores around the world. Carrie Marcus Neiman was present at the creation and established the essential concepts that remain today. Yes, it''s a must-read!"--Leonard A. Lauder, Chairman Emeritus, The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. "There''s a reason Life magazine sent some of its most celebrated photographers to capture the Neiman Marcus world: X, Y, and Z. A Girl Named Carrie shows us all of them."--Bill Shapiro, Former Editor-in-Chief of Life magazine "Carrie Marcus Neiman--A Female Founder and Chair of the Board long before this was even a dream of women. As the co-Founder of Neiman Marcus, she brought contemporary styles of Ready to Wear to women who had always had tailor-made clothes. She was a true disruptor in the industry and a constant inspiration to me as the next female CEO of the company 103 years later. "--Karen Katz, Former CEO Neiman Marcus Group "Thoughtful and evocative, A Girl Named Carrie tells the often remembered but never-before recorded history of Carrie Marcus Neiman. As an arbiter of taste and supporter of culture, "Aunt Carrie" not only brought clothing from New York and Paris to Dallas but placed Dallas alongside those two cities as an international fashion mecca. Her uncompromising standards for production and well-informed style established ready-to-wear as an accepted way to dress, her fastidious attention to detail created an expectation for customer service still appreciated by Neiman Marcus customers today, and her leadership as a businesswoman in the early twentieth century stands as a feminist example. Followers of fashion and appreciators of culture owe a debt of gratitude to this remarkable woman, whose story is beautifully told and illustrated here!"--Annette Becker, Director, Texas Fashion Collection, University of North Texas "Lovely writing! Bountiful visuals! A fascinating read!"--Jeffrey Banks, fashion designer and author "In A Girl Named Carrie Jerrie Marcus Smith has captured not only a powerful personality but also a pivotal moment in a city, a family and, above all, in American retailing. Carrie Neiman invented the specialty store, along with her husband, Al, and brother, Herbert Marcus. They called it Neiman Marcus, and it was born to be elegant but different from other emporiums, more daring, more imaginative, more attuned to fashion as a harbinger of the future as well as a talisman for its own time. All three, still in their 20s, were central to the enterprise, but without the taste, talent and foresight of Carrie Neiman, first and always chief buyer, the guys, good as they were at finance and promotion, would have had nothing to sell. Justifiably, the stores--eventually plural--have been known by her name, Neiman''s. This is a fascinating tale told with clarity, honesty, style and finesse by a great-niece who grew up in the glory days of Neiman Marcus. Also, the photographs are dazzling."--Lee Cullum, Journalist and Senior Fellow, John G. Tower Center for Public Policy and International Affairs, SMU "What a lovely and lively tribute to one of high fashions secret weapons, Ms. Carrie Neiman! A rare one-of-a-kind visionary, Ms. Neiman reshaped fashion retailing with ideas and pleasures that are still influential today. After years in the shadows it makes me very happy that she is being celebrated for the ingenuity and grace she brought to Neiman Marcus and all of us that visited it."--Todd Oldham, Designer and Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts by RISD
Some mystics believe we choose our name, along with our life's lessons, before we are born. The name we select becomes our constant guide, helping us to navigate the journey ahead. In her memoir, A Girl Named Truth, Alethea explores the subjective nature of truth while she untangles the uncomfortable wrap of narratives she was raised on. Her name serves as her beacon, guiding her to heal and find the inner voice of her own truth. The author's story begins with her formative years, when her mother left her father and went into hiding with the Hare Krishnas. Months later, the young Alethea finds herself living 3,000 miles away from her extended family, trying to love a new father and forget the one she has left behind. Only she never forgets...A Girl Named Truth is a story of loss, love and the redemptive power of awakening a silenced voice.
