A collection of short stories by Elizabeth Berridge.

Malcolm Gladwell, host of the podcast Revisionist History and author of the #1 New York Times bestseller Outliers, offers a powerful examination of our interactions with strangers and why they often go wrong—now with a new afterword by the author. A Best Book of the Year: The Financial Times, Bloomberg, Chicago Tribune, and Detroit Free Press How did Fidel Castro fool the CIA for a generation? Why did Neville Chamberlain think he could trust Adolf Hitler? Why are campus sexual assaults on the rise? Do television sitcoms teach us something about the way we relate to one another that isn’t true? Talking to Strangers is a classically Gladwellian intellectual adventure, a challenging and controversial excursion through history, psychology, and scandals taken straight from the news. He revisits the deceptions of Bernie Madoff, the trial of Amanda Knox, the suicide of Sylvia Plath, the Jerry Sandusky pedophilia scandal at Penn State University, and the death of Sandra Bland—throwing our understanding of these and other stories into doubt. Something is very wrong, Gladwell argues, with the tools and strategies we use to make sense of people we don’t know. And because we don’t know how to talk to strangers, we are inviting conflict and misunderstanding in ways that have a profound effect on our lives and our world. In his first book since his #1 bestseller David and Goliath, Malcolm Gladwell has written a gripping guidebook for troubled times.

Award-winning and best-selling author Lois Lowry explores issues surrounding adoption in this poignant novel. Natalie Armstrong has everything: she’s smart and beautiful, has the perfect boyfriend, early acceptance to college, and a loving family. But the summer she turns seventeen, she finally decides to ask some unanswered questions: Who are her biological parents and why did they give her up when she was born? These questions take her on a journey from the deep woods of Maine to the streets of New York City, from the pages of old phone books and a tattered yearbook photo to the realization that she might actually meet her biological mother face-to-face.

Lu won’t go with just anyone! Lu is waiting to be picked up after school. She stands on the sidewalk, all alone, and it starts to rain. Ms. Smith walks by, and offers to take her home. Ms. Smith lives in Lu’s neighborhood—but does Lu really know her? Lu asks herself, what’s her first name? Does she dye her hair red? What’s her dog’s name? And she says, “I don’t know you, so I won’t go with you! And besides, Mama said I should wait.” As other adults—all of whom Lu has met in some capacity before—offer to take her home, Lu continues to consider if she really knows them. One by one, she refuses to go with them. Until, finally, the person Mama said she should go home with shows up—though his appearance is a surprise to the reader! This sensitively narrated story illustrates how clear rules and arrangements can help protect and empower children during an especially vulnerable time of day. The ending includes a prompt for readers to create their own similar “safe” list, and a list of resources for parents.

Further Reading/Content Consultants/Book List/Sidebars/Index/Safe Web sites at www.FactHound.com National Science Education Standards: Science in Personal and Social Perspectives: Content Standard F: Personal Health National Standards for Physical Education Quizzes at www.picturewindowbooks.com

Explains how to deal with strangers in public places, on the telephone, and in cars, emphasizing situations in which the best thing to do is run away or talk to another adult.

Violet Bell is a reasonably normal American teenager. Or at least she tries to be. In To Know a Stranger, Violet finds herself stuck in an Airbnb in Montreal with her parents after a tumultuous junior year of high school. Her parents decide that Violet needs to broaden her horizons and sign her up to volunteer at the Juste Pour Rire Comedy Festival where she meets Piper, a free-spirited Romanian elementary school teacher. Stationed at an isolated post at the festival, Violet and Piper begin to swap stories and reflect on their lives. As Violet listens to Piper and opens up about herself, she begins to discover that she does not need to live her life within the strict confines she sets for herself. Before parting ways, the two embark on an adventure that changes Violet's life forever. To Know A Stranger is a subtle reminder to all readers that age, nationality, or even life experiences are not the barriers we think they are. Sometimes all we need in life is the chance to tell our own story.