Bright-eyed Lucy explains to readers what she likes to eat for lunch including hot dogs, carrots, and an apple. Books of the Neighborhood Readers Program build early literacy skills, introduce important content-area language, and help develop speaking and writing skills. They can be integrated into any existing language arts or core reading programs.

Transformational Leadership Through Empathy When entrepreneur Sherry Deutschmann first decided to start a business, she knew she wanted to build something totally different. In her first book, Lunch with Lucy, Sherry tells the story of the creation of that company, LetterLogic, and how she turned it into a $40-million company by putting employees first—even ahead of customers and shareholders. Putting her people first took many forms, with an extremely generous profit sharing plan and fair living wages among them. But the centerpiece and heart of LetterLogic’s culture was the employee-centric practice Sherry designed called “Lunch with Lucy”—a practice that removed the hierarchical dynamics found in most organizations. On any given Wednesday, any employee could invite “Lucy” (Sherry’s midday moniker) out to lunch, at a place of their choice, with the bill picked up by Sherry. At these events, Sherry wasn’t the CEO. She was “Lucy,” a co-worker. By making herself 100% available, “Lucy” created a judgment-free environment where she could learn about a team member’s dreams, ambitions, and challenges—and gain their insight into what she was doing right or wrong as a leader. She credits this approach with the success of her company. Lunch with Lucy’s interior, refreshingly laid out like courses on a menu, invites us to see how a leader’s choices directly impact employee morale, engagement, and commitment—and in this author’s case, ultimately led to a healthy and hearty bottom line. Sherry’s voice is new, and her honesty, humor, and humility shine through this story of a woman building a successful business through empathetic leadership and uncommon, commonsense business practices, one lunch at a time. Sit down at the table and learn about a business model that is truly transformational.

Born for Freedom is a story written from the viewpoint of Lucy, a six-year-old girl, who was born in Lithuania under the Soviet occupation. Through the heroine's eyes the reader comes to know her native village and what social-political changes took place in the country in the 1960's, the time when the terror-stricken nation tried to reconcile with its recent postwar past. Lucy faces the first challenges of her childhood when she begins to attend elementary and high school. She is torn between the ideologically saturated school and home where old values and traditions prevail. She learns to cover up her true belief and masters to perfection to live with a double face, the feature she carries over into adult life. Thirst for knowledge and strong will takes her to Vilnius where she studies foreign languages at the university. She remains unshakable to the core regarding her personal convictions and refuses to join the Communist Party. Brought up in the national spirit, she knows what it means to be deprived of freedom as a nation and as a Lithuanian. With her unbending spirit, she is about to climb to the heights of her career as a translator when inevitable happens. During the interview with the chief of the KGB, Lucy has to make a choice: either she becomes a Party member and joins the ranks of the Soviet spies abroad or she quits her favorite job. She chooses the latter. The refrain to be free because I was born to be free is not only the main theme of the novel but also Lucy's driving force through her life. Her dream to become free comes finally true when she arrives in Chicago. However, her new country and the unknown future take her into another whirlpool of adventures.

Lucy has come a long way from that tomboy who wouldn’t give pink the time of day. She’s developed into an authentic tween who has learned that girls make great friends, that teamwork means more than stardom, and that God is real. But she’s still Lucy. In the third book of the series, she runs headlong into some new—and some old—problems. Although Lucy has come to love and respect Inez and more than tolerate Mora, with school out for the summer, the three of them have more together time than anybody can stand! That worsens when the “monsoon” season keeps them cooped up in the house for three solid days without Dad to referee (he’s stranded at the radio station).When Dad is stuck at the radio station without his assistant Luke, the new management finds out just how much Dad depends on his assistant and threaten to fire Lucy’s father. Lucy is freaked out at the thought of moving.Plus it gives Aunt Karen more ammunition for her fight to have Lucy come and live with her in El Paso. That would be heinous enough, but Lucy just can’t leave now, not with the soccer team making tremendous progress and Coach Auggy scheduling three unofficial games with neighboring teams during the summer to get them ready for the real soccer season in the fall.And not with Januarie getting into “iffy” territory with the new kids her own age that Lucy and her friends have encouraged her to hang out with so she’ll leave them alone. Child Protective Services gets involved when Januarie gets in trouble, and Lucy has to be there for her, especially since this could affect her friend J.J. too.When the weather dries up, wild fires break out with a vengeance. A big one threatens Los Suenos. Myteriously, the only thing destroyed is the soccer field. The big developer who has tried to buy the property before swoops in for the kill. Lucy and her team have to convince the town to come together and restore the field, rather than give up and sell it.Meanwhile, Lucy, Mora, Dusty, Veronica, and Inez study Esther. Lucy grows even closer to God through her Book of Lists and her resonance with Esther, even though she was a girly-girl. That helps her not only save the soccer field, get Januarie out of trouble, and get herself an audition with the Olympic Development Program (without Aunt Karen’s help), but it enables her to make a huge sacrifice for Dad and agree to live without him for six weeks while he goes to a special technology school for the blind in Alamogordo. That’s going to mean having Aunt Karen come to live with her in the fall. But Lucy is the only one who can do this thing in this time and this place. Like Esther, she is willing to make the sacrifice.

In this delightful Christian romance, a woman finds a second chance at love and family with her widowed boss and his charming daughter. Moving to a small Texas town, Lucy Grayson is looking to live life on her own terms. When she agrees to take a job in Doctor Graham Redmond’s office, the two instantly clash. But Lucy soon discovers another side of the handsome widower through his lovable five-year-old daughter. Graham soon realizes how good Lucy is for his daughter—and for him. Yet his late wife’s parents don’t agree. Their ultimatum to choose between them or Lucy fills Graham with despair. He can’t let his daughter lose her grandparents . . . but he also can’t lose the woman who could complete their family.

The Santa in the shed has been identified, and Lucy has to decide if her Christmas wish has come true. Instead of being happy and fulfilled, life at home and school has become more complex. Lucy’s teacher, Ms. Jackson, has become more important to the family than just her teacher. Has Lucy’s wish come true, or has it led to a greater problem than an unknown Santa living in their shed?

For the past two years, Shane Broyles has felt God leading him to join the Amish. He is staying with his friends Noah and Ivy Schlabach in Birch Creek, OH, where he is reunited with Lucy Fisher, an old friend of Noah’s family. Shane and Lucy have never revealed their feelings for each other, but when they stumble upon an antique Bible at a flea market, they feel drawn to each other and to the mystery of the contents found within.