It is 1847 and the Irish are battling famine and sickness. Matt Donahee is doing his best to keep a positive outlook. But when both his mother and fiance die within days of each other, Matt decides to leave his despair behind in Ireland and travel to America in search of a better life. Three weeks later, twenty-two-year-old Matt arrives at New York Harbor where he is immediately recruited to help build a railroad. Determined to earn enough money to bring his father and brothers to New York, Matt immerses himself in his work. After his path leads him to meet the beautiful Jade Malloy, she quickly captures his heart and they marry. She is strong and dedicated to her causes. He is tough and smart. Together, they work hard and display unwavering integrity while building their family. As time passes and future generations of Donahees face difficult courtships, new business ventures, war, and loss, each becomes determined to do better than those who came before them and make the world a decent place. In this historical novel, a young man escapes the great hunger of Ireland to create a legacy in America based on the values and work ethic learned in his beloved homeland.

This provocative, “critically important” memoir of working-class boyhood in rural Indiana offers a searing cultural analysis of toxic masculinity in American culture (NPR). As progressivism changes American society, and globalism shifts labor away from traditional manufacturing, the roles that have been prescribed to men since the Industrial Revolution have been rendered obsolete. Donald Trump's campaign successfully leveraged male resentment and entitlement, and now, with Trump as president and the rise of the #MeToo movement, it’s clear that our current definitions of masculinity are outdated and even dangerous. Deeply personal and thoroughly researched, the author of The People Are Going to Rise Like the Waters Upon Your Shore has turned his keen eye to our current crisis of masculinity using his upbringing in rural Indiana to examine the personal and societal dangers of the patriarchy. The Man They Wanted Me to Be examines how we teach boys what’s expected of men in America, and the long–term effects of that socialization―which include depression, shorter lives, misogyny, and suicide. Sexton turns his keen eye to the establishment of the racist patriarchal structure which has favored white men, and investigates the personal and societal dangers of such outdated definitions of manhood. “ . . . exposes the true cost of toxic masculinity . . . and takes aim at the patriarchal structures in American society that continue to uphold an outdated ideal of manhood.” —Book Riot

This acclaimed picture book from two award-winning creators about connecting across generational and language differences shows that sometimes you don't need words to find common ground. When a young boy visits his grandfather, their lack of a common language leads to confusion, frustration, and silence. But as they sit down to draw together, something magical happens -- with a shared love of art and storytelling, the two form a bond that goes beyond words. With spare text by Minh Lê and luminous illustrations by Caldecott Medalist Dan Santat, this stirring story about reaching across barriers will be cherished for years to come. "A beautifully told and illustrated story about a grandson and grandfather struggling to communicate across divides of language, age and culture." --- Viet Thanh Nguyen, Pulitzer Prize winner Don't miss LIFT, also by Minh Lê and Dan Santat!

His real name is not Poppa John. His life has been built upon a variety of disguises. Close to seventy, wise, crotchety, troubled, outspoken, he is one of those elusive individuals whose very shifts and turnings serve to make him more himself and entirely unique. Compressed, music-like, lit with humor, Poppa John is a small book of awesome content and dimension.

The invisible man is the unnamed narrator of this impassioned novel of black lives in 1940s America. Embittered by a country which treats him as a non-being he retreats to an underground cell.

The first-ever book to tell Nelson Mandela's life through the eyes of the grandson who was raised by him, chronicling Ndaba Mandela's life living with, and learning from, one of the greatest leaders and humanitarians the world has ever known. To the rest of the world, Nelson Mandela was a giant: an anti-apartheid revolutionary, a world-renowned humanitarian, and South Africa's first black president. To Ndaba Mandela, he was simply "Granddad." In Going to the Mountain, Ndaba tells how he came to live with Mandela shortly after he turned eleven--having met each other only once, years before, when Mandela was imprisoned at Victor Verster Prison -- and how the two of them slowly, cautiously built a relationship that would affect both their lives in extraordinary ways. It wasn't an easy transition. Mandela had high expectations for those around him, especially his family, and Ndaba chafed at the strict rules and exacting guidelines in his grandfather's home. But at the same time -- through overheard calls from foreign dignitaries as well as the Xhosa folk wisdom that his grandfather shared with him at every opportunity -- Ndaba was learning how to be a man. On a scale both personal and epic, Ndaba's extraordinary journey mirrors that of South Africa's coming of age -- from the segregated Soweto ghettos into which he was born to the privileged life in which he grew up and the turbulent yet exciting times in which he carries on his grandfather's legacy. Going to the Mountain is, in the end, a story about unlocking the power within each of us. It's a cautionary tale about how a child's life can go one way or the other, depending upon the intervention of a caring soul--and about the awesome power of love to serve as a catalyst for change.

With 200 thought-provoking and lighthearted writing prompts and exercises organized into chapters based on his life, My Grandfather’s Life guides your grandfather to begin his life’s memoir and create a fully realized record of his adventures, stories, and wisdom for you and your family to cherish for future generations.