Gary Schmidt's First Boy fast-paced political thriller will have the reader turning the pages in anticipation of the next clue.

"You're my first boy, Cooper, my first boy," grandfather says just before he dies. All alone in the world, without even a dog, the only thing that keeps Cooper going is running the dairy farm.

Suddenly, black sedans are swarming all around Cooper's small New Hampshire town, driven by mysterious men in dark suits. Cooper's barn is burned to the ground, and his house is broken into and searched during the night. The President of the United...

A testament to the power of stories, and how they may bring hope even in times of darkness.

As night falls, the women gather their children to listen to Mara tell her stories. They are stories of light and hope and freedom, stories of despair and stories of miracles, stories of expected pain and stories of unexpected joy--all told in the darkness of the concentration camp barracks.

Through extensive research noted in the back of the book, Gary Schmidt has skillfully woven together stories from such sources as the Jewish religious scholar, Martin Buber; Holocaust survivor, Elie...

Explore how the dormancy and difficulty of winter can be a time of spiritual preparation and transformation. For many, winter is a time of postponed activity and of shoveling snow, navigating ice, and trying to keep warm. What can easily be forgotten in winter s cold and occasional dreariness is that it can also be a time of shoring up, of purity, praise, delight, and play. In thirty stirring pieces from translated Sanskrit and Hebrew poems to Henry David Thoreau and Basho, Jane Kenyon, John Updike, Kathleen Norris, and Annie Dillard we share in the recognition of winter s hardships and...

As winter's austere power begins to fade, we notice the first signs of vigor and life returning to the world: delicate crocuses pushing through the damp earth; frogs croaking in the barely thawed ponds; the year's first warm breeze on our faces. These first sure signs of spring bolster our spirits and remind us of the eternal cycle of death and rebirth, and also--more poignantly--of the steady march of time and our own advancing years. With each successive spring, it seems, we cherish the promise of renewed life more and more. These thoughtfully chosen writings, poems and meditations--from...

As winter's austere power begins to fade, we notice the first signs of vigor and life returning to the world: delicate crocuses pushing through the damp earth; frogs croaking in the barely thawed ponds; the year's first warm breeze on our faces. These first sure signs of spring bolster our spirits and remind us of the eternal cycle of death and rebirth, and also--more poignantly--of the steady march of time and our own advancing years. With each successive spring, it seems, we cherish the promise of renewed life more and more. These thoughtfully chosen writings, poems and meditations--from...

As winter's austere power begins to fade, we notice the first signs of vigor and life returning to the world: delicate crocuses pushing through the damp earth; frogs croaking in the barely thawed ponds; the year's first warm breeze on our faces. These first sure signs of spring bolster our spirits and remind us of the eternal cycle of death and rebirth, and also--more poignantly--of the steady march of time and our own advancing years. With each successive spring, it seems, we cherish the promise of renewed life more and more. These thoughtfully chosen writings, poems and meditations--from...