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.
Theodore Dayton no longer believes in God. With his beloved wife dead and his teenage daughter, Emily, suffering from a terminal illness, he contemplates the agony of his family's demise. Now, with his faith shattered, he becomes a lost soul, struggling to find meaning in a merciless world. Theodore's journey into salvation begins when a journal arrives at his home. It is through the memoirs of his father, Lawrence, that he may gradually dissolve the fear in his heart. As the tale unfolds, Emily tries to restore her father's faith, but a curse lingers in her family's past. It is within this journal that both she and Theodore will discover the miracles of God, but they will also uncover an unrelenting evil emerging from within. As time grows short, Emily must make her father understand the virtues of God, before he permits another force to lure him into darkness. Will Theodore save himself? And will Emily live to reveal the one soul who can save all of mankind?
In the late 1800s in Kentucky, Amie McBee and her four sisters both fear and torment the reclusive and seemingly sinister Mr. Tominski, but their father continues to provide for his needs.
In the late 1800s in Kentucky, Amie McBee and her four sisters both fear and torment the reclusive and seemingly sinister Mr. Tominski, but their father continues to provide for his needs.
An ambitious and mesmerizing novel from the bestselling author of Rules of Magic. The Dovekeepers is “striking….Hoffman grounds her expansive, intricately woven, and deepest new novel in biblical history, with a devotion and seriousness of purpose” (Entertainment Weekly). Nearly two thousand years ago, nine hundred Jews held out for months against armies of Romans on Masada, a mountain in the Judean desert. According to the ancient historian Josephus, two women and five children survived. Based on this tragic and iconic event, Hoffman’s novel is a spellbinding tale of four extraordinarily bold, resourceful, and sensuous women, each of whom has come to Masada by a different path. Yael’s mother died in childbirth, and her father, an expert assassin, never forgave her for that death. Revka, a village baker’s wife, watched the murder of her daughter by Roman soldiers; she brings to Masada her young grandsons, rendered mute by what they have witnessed. Aziza is a warrior’s daughter, raised as a boy, a fearless rider and expert marksman who finds passion with a fellow soldier. Shirah, born in Alexandria, is wise in the ways of ancient magic and medicine, a woman with uncanny insight and power. The lives of these four complex and fiercely independent women intersect in the desperate days of the siege. All are dovekeepers, and all are also keeping secrets—about who they are, where they come from, who fathered them, and whom they love.
Thomas is a seventeen-year-old who doesn't want to grow up and has little aspirations for anything beyond standing outside the local liquor store and getting drunk. But when he meets Bernard, the old and well known fag artist, he is offered something he cannot turn down. -- The Epilogue follows this book, and there is a sequel, The Rainbow, coming soon. Please see thedovekeeper.com for more details.
In this book, Nancy S. Williams emphasizes the development of higher-level thinking skills and critical discussion with intermediate and middle school struggling readers. Discussion questions and extension activities_specific to over 100 children's literature selections_are included.
