"In the electric, pulsating world around us, the essay lives a life of abandon, posing questions, speaking truths, fulfilling a need humans have to know what other humans think and wonder so we can feel less alone." -Katherine Bomer Sadly, many students only know "essay" as a 5-paragraph, tightly structured writing assignment that must check all the boxes of a standardized formula. How did essays in school get so far away from essays in the world? Katherine makes a powerful case for teaching the essay as a way to restore writing to think-that it is in fact necessary for students' success in college and career. "Essay helps students write flexibly, fluently, and with emboldened voices," she writes in The Journey Is Everything, "qualities they can translate into any assigned writing task in school or in life." She argues that the close reading of essays fulfills the recommendations of state and national standards, while practice in essay writing leads to better academic and test writing. More importantly, "Essay gives its author the space, time, and freedom to think about and make sense of things, take a journey of discovery, and speak her mind, without boundaries." Don't students deserve the chance to develop their own topics, discover their own writing voices, and learn to structure prose organically, according to the content? Katherine gives you tools, strategies, and activities to bring a unit on more authentic writing into your practice. Rediscover the power of the essay to bring out students' true thinking-their true selves. Because after all, the journey is everything.

One of Buzzfeed's 29 Books We Couldn't Put Down This Year “Every page of this novel is a point of no return; once you’ve read Karolina Waclawiak's Life Events, you will never see life, death, grief, and healing the same way.”—Saeed Jones, author of How We Fight for Our Lives A woman at a crossroads learns the only way to reclaim her life is to help others die Karolina Waclawiak’s breakout novel, Life Events, follows Evelyn, who, at thirty-seven, is on the verge of divorce and anxiously dreading the death of everyone she loves. She combats her existential crisis by avoiding her husband and aimlessly driving along the freeways of California looking for an escape—one that eventually comes when she discovers a collective of “exit guides.” Evelyn enrolls in their training course, where she learns to provide companionship and a final exit for terminally ill patients seeking a conscious departure. She meets Daphne, a dying woman still full of life; Lawrence, an aging porn king; and Daniel, who seems too young to die and whom Evelyn falls for, despite knowing better, not to mention the exit guide code. Each client opens something new in Evelyn, allowing her a chance to access her own grief and confront the self-destructive ways she suppresses her pain. When Evelyn travels through the Southwest to an afterlife convention to further her death education, she must finally face her complicated relationship with her alcoholic father and reconcile her life choices. Sensitively observed and darkly funny, Life Events is a moving, enlivening story of the human condition: the doldrums of loneliness, the consuming regret of past mistakes, and the thrill, finally, of finding meaning—and love—where you least expect it.

Either by choice or by circumstance, we all encounter times of starting over. Seasons of hardships, abundance, seeking, and struggle all have a purpose because growth demands change. Dare to Bloom urges us to be both vulnerable and resilient in new seasons of life as we boldly position ourselves for what God has for us next. Serial entrepreneur and author, Zim Flores (neè Ugochukwu), reveals the challenges she's faced and how even her failures have helped shape her sense of purpose. Her parents had big plans for her life. The daughter of Nigerian immigrants, Zim Flores was uprooted from her community as a young girl, marking the beginning of her quest for true identity. Though she experienced unprecedented worldly success as a teenager and young adult, Zim declares that even when we feel pressured by the world around us, our true identity is never at risk. In Dare to Bloom, Zim offers practical and hard-won truths about: How to reclaim your true identity How to surrender your desired outcomes to God How to move forward after broken friendships How to find comfort during your darkest hours How to navigate new beginnings with hope for whatever is next How to joyfully participate in your own story--even when you don't know what the future holds Dare to Bloom is a powerful gift for readers in times of transition or struggle who need a reminder that their true identity never changes. It empowers those who feel stuck in their current circumstances to follow God obediently into the unknown, finding joy in each new beginning. Inside you'll find: Breathtaking photography from Zim's travels Thoughtful questions for reflection at the end of each chapter Zimisms--wisdom-filled phrases from the author When everything changes around us, it can be easy to think that we're only as good as our last success. Though our identities are challenged day by day, Dare to Bloom encourages us to reclaim our identity in God, who is unchanging through it all.

Do you often find yourself asking, “Is this all there is?” Or do you ever get that feeling that most of your peers already have everything figured out, while you’re still clueless as ever about what to do with your life? This book is for you. Most of us think of purpose as that ultimate sweet spot—that ideal overlap between passion, skill, opportunity, and money. Sometimes it can get frustrating when you feel like you just can’t find it. But what if there’s more than one way to go about it? To find a different way of viewing your purpose—not as that impossibly elusive thing you have to chase after your whole life, let Is This All There Is? Help you think of life as a big picture that becomes clearer as you make your way through it. Here is your faithful guide and companion as you embark on you purpose journey.

"Journey By Starlight follows Albert Einstein and his traveling companion through space and time as they travel on a beam of light from a star 3,200 light-years away to Earth. Along the way, Einstein explains the science behind everything from the origins of the universe to the meaning of life, relativity, black holes, quantum mechanics, climate change, evolution vs. intelligent design, and how the brain works, all delivered in fun, easy-to-understand, bite-sized chunks. Based on the popular blog of the same name, Journey by Starlight has been given the graphic novel treatment, pairing the narrative with fantastic, whimsical artwork" -- from publisher's web site.

Presents three classics by author John Eldredge that challenges and encourages readers to rediscover the lives God intended for them to have.