Gammy & the Snow Queen, we earnestly hope, will be the first in a series written by Esther R. Reaves for her grandchildren--as well as for children and grandchildren everywhere! In many cities and towns around the world, taking little ones to see Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker is an annual event. Excitement whirls around each performance, whether city or town, with local children always featured prominently in the ballet. There is a special longing to see the magic of the holidays reflected in the eyes of the youngest members of the family and a special joy getting dressed up for attendance at the holiday performance--jaunty velveteen suits for boys, and twirling, beribboned taffeta or velvet dresses for girls. For grandmothers, many dreams for their little ones are reflected in the magic of these moments. In Gammy & the Snow Queen, Ms. Reaves tells a story that embodies the love of an archetypical grandmother, one who not only hopes to project her own confidence into the future, but to express the depth and reach of her dreams for her granddaughter. Truly, the grandmother's dream is the story that lies behind the frenetic attendance at so many performances of Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker every year. "You dance with all the beauty and grace of any ballerina. You can be everything that you want to be," the grandmother's dream affirms. "I know, because I know you, and I believe in you with all my heart." In her daily work, Ms. Reaves coordinates many staff and volunteers. So, too, this children's book represents collaboration between Ms. Reaves and her granddaughter Kristen Yeung who provided the engaging illustrations (and direct inspiration), and with Linda Turbyville, a writer and friend, who has contributed her editing skill to the project. Enjoy! Happy Holidays!

Eight-year-old Carrie can’t wait to get to Gammy’s house and bake ooey-gooey chocolate chip cookies, read books, and learn lots of big, new words. When her mother explains that Gammy is living in a different home now because she is becoming forgetful, Carrie becomes confused and scared. “But Gammy would never forget me!” she cries. Carrie not only learns a big word, “Alzheimer’s,” but also a different meaning for a little word she thought she already knew: love.

Should going to Grandma's be that hard? Is she scary? Does she hide behind the couch and jump out with a growl that makes a kid shake in their boots? Is she mean? Does she march you into the hall and make you recite your name, age, and date of birth before you can have a cookie? What would make a kid choose anything but going to Grandma's? Join Wyatt and Maddie as they lay it on the line in this funny but full-of-life-lesson, character-building case of the heart.

“Astoundingly light-hearted . . . The MacDonalds . . . had . . . an abounding humor that bounced them over the direst crises.” —New York Times When Betty MacDonald married a marine and moved to a small chicken farm on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State, she was largely unprepared for the rigors of life in the wild. With no running water, no electricity, a house in need of constant repair, and days that ran from four in the morning to nine at night, the MacDonalds had barely a moment to put their feet up and relax. And then came the children. Yet through every trial and pitfall—through chaos and catastrophe—this indomitable family somehow, mercifully, never lost its sense of humor. A beloved literary treasure for more than half a century, Betty MacDonald’s The Egg and I is a heartwarming and uproarious account of adventure and survival on an American frontier. “A work of real comic genius. . . . A wonderful, funny, warm, honest book, and, to use a much overused word, a classic.” —Michael Korda, author of Country Matters “Anyone who has ever struggled with a farm or even with a small garden will especially enjoy this breezy autobiography . . . [S]prightly, diverting, and excellent entertainment. The whole book crackles with the innocent deviltry of acorns hitting the roof-tops.” —Saturday Review of Literature

Anne of Green Gables Novels and Chronicles of Avonlea are certainly the most beloved books of all time, classics of Children's/Young Adult Literature. They recount the adventures of Anne Shirley, an 11-year-old orphan girl who is mistakenly sent to Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert, a middle-aged brother and sister who had intended to adopt a boy to help them on their farm in Prince Edward Island. The books depict how this talkative, imaginative, red-headed girl makes her way with the Cuthberts, in school, and within the small town... Table of contents: Anne of Green Gables (1908) Anne of Avonlea (1909) Anne of the Island (1915) Anne's House of Dreams (1917) Rainbow Valley (1919) Rilla of Ingleside (1921) Chronicles of Avonlea (1912) Further Chronicles of Avonlea (1920) Anne of Windy Poplars (1936) Anne of Ingleside (1939) The Story Girl (1911) The Golden Road (Sequel to The Story Girl, 1913) Kilmeny of the Orchard (1910) The Watchman and Other Poems (1916) Letters & Autobiography Collected Letters The Alpine Path: The Story of My Career