A twelve-year-old boy stumbles upon a secret cave of talking animals and learns this dog was their king. Benjamin and his animal friends embark on a dangerous journey to destroy a monster before it returns to kill them all.

It seems incomprehensible that there was a time in America s not-so-distant past that nearly 200,000 children could be loaded on trains in large cities on our East Coast, sent to the rural Midwest, and presented for the picking to anyone who expressed an interest in them. That's exactly what happened between the years 1854 and 1930. The primitive social experiment became known as placing out, and had its origins in a New York City organization founded by Charles Loring Brace called the Children's Aid Society. The Society gathered up orphans, half-orphans, and abandoned children from streets and orphanages, and placed them on what are now referred to as Orphan Trains. It was Brace s belief that there was always room for one more at a farmer s table. The stories of the individual children involved in this great migration of little emigrants have nearly all been lost in the attic of American history. In this book, the author tells the true story of his paternal grandmother, the late Emily (Reese) Kidder, who, at the tender age of fourteen, became one of the aforementioned children who rode an Orphan Train. In 1906, Emily was plucked from the Elizabeth Home for Girls, operated by the Children's Aid Society, and placed on a train, along with eight other children, bound for Hopkinton, Iowa. Emily s journey, as it turned out, was only just beginning. Life had many lessons in store for her lessons that would involve overcoming adversity, of perseverance, love, and great loss. Emily's story is told through the use of primary material, oral history, interviews, and historical photographs. It is a tribute to the human spirit of an extraordinary young girl who became a woman a woman to whom the heartfelt phrase there s no place like home, had a very profound meaning.

Jill Homer has an outlandish ambition: Racing a mountain bike 2,740 miles from Canada to Mexico along the Continental Divide. But her dream starts to unravel the minute she sets it in motion. An accident on the Iditarod Trail results in serious frostbite. She struggles with painful recovery and growing uncertainties. Then, just two days before their departure, her boyfriend ends their eight-year relationship, dismantling everything Jill thought she knew about life, love and her identity. This is the story of an adventure driven relentlessly forward as foundations crumble. During her record-breaking ride in the 2009 Tour Divide, Jill battles a torrent of anger, self-doubt, fatigue, loneliness, pain, grief, bicycle failures, crashes and violent storms. Each night, she collapses under the crushing effort of this savage new way of life. And every morning, she picks up the pieces and strikes out to find what lies on the other side of the Divide: Astonishing beauty, unconditional kindness, and boundless strength.

In Stranger Among Friends, renowned activist, political adviser, and White House insider David Mixner offered a compelling account of his decades-long fight for human rights and the challenges he faced as a gay man in Washington. Now, in this new book written with collaborator Dennis Bailey, Mixner presents moving, candid, and inspiring portraits of other extraordinary men and women engaged in the struggle for equality. Brave Journeys: Profiles in Gay and Lesbian Courage From a top-gun pilot in the U.S. Navy to an authority on antigay violence, from a member of the president's administration to a leading Shakespearean actor, Brave Journeys tells the stirring stories of seven intrepid men and women who effectively challenged the status quo and thereby altered the political and societal landscape of the world we live in. In these pages we meet Hispanic-American Dianne Hardy-Garcia, executive director of the Lesbian and Gay Rights Lobby of Texas and a passionate crusader against hate crimes; Elaine Noble, the feisty veteran of Boston's busing wars who became the first openly gay person to be elected to a state office in the United States-the Massachusetts State Legislature; brilliant British actor Sir Ian McKellen, who came out as a gay man and an activist in one very public moment on the BBC; Roberta Achtenberg, who braved the venomous homophobia of Jesse Helms in Senate confirmation hearings for her appointment to the Department of Housing and Urban Development; Lieutenant Tracy Thorne, a Navy fighter pilot living his lifelong dream of flight who outed himself on Nightline to challenge the U.S. military's policy against gays and lesbians, fully aware that this would mean the end of his Navy career; and San Franciscans Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon, founders of the first national lesbian organization, the Daughters of Bilitis, who have celebrated fifty years together as a couple. Powerful and eloquent, Brave Journeys is David Mixner's tribute to gay men and lesbians who have made a difference. Rich in private bravery and public risk, these profiles comprise a vivid map of the gay rights movement over the last fifty years-and individually they testify to the power of courage to force change against profoundly overwhelming odds.

During her almost-final moments when Kiara is pinned down by a man who claims to love her, fighting to breathe, her life at the mercy of her husband, she repeatedly begs him, "Please don't kill me. My parents need me." Even in today's #MeToo era, with women and men sharing their stories of assault and abuse, the topic of domestic abuse is still obscured, especially in the South Asian community. Stuck in this vicious and confusing cycle, Kiara, a member of that community, seeks the strength to challenge patriarchy as she begins to recognize the pretenses of the "white picket fence" dream, where marriage and children are the only measure of happiness and prosperity, and dares to defy it. Her Brave Journey serves as a powerful message to victims and survivors of abuse, in particular South Asian women who battle societal and cultural pressures every day. Go inside the life of Kiara and follow her brave journey as she reclaims her life and discovers her inner warrior.

Eddie is a young elephant whose grandpa has died. As he experiences great big feelings, he wonders what to do. Setting out on a brave journey, Eddie learns from other animals about the feelings of grief and how to help his heart begin healing.

You're staring at this book thinking, it's time for me to do this! It's time for me to move through the fear and really live, really go for the joy. I'm here to convince you you're worthy, you're brave and your story matters. And yes, it's time for you to do this! I got you. I was born to write this book and it's time to be out loud with this message. It's time for a brave kind of healing; for you, for me, and for the world. I'll go first. But please, take my hand. It's taken me a couple decades and a career in healing to re-discover the self-worth I lost as a child, transform that pain, and step into my passion and power. I'm a warrior goddess. You might recognize your own story here in mine, so let's get to the important business of healing your shit so you don't have to spend one more day letting your pain paralyze you or only wishing for a life you love. It's my turn to help you be brave and do the healing that'll change everything. With Warrior Love, Laura