Named one of Esquire's "Best Nonfiction Books of 2018" "Sharp and searching...a potent look at the fraught, painful, and complicated relationship between parents and children, and the mysteries — revelatory, difficult — that can and cannot be solved." — Boston Globe Anya Yurchyshyn grew up in a narrow townhouse in Boston, every corner filled with the souvenirs of her parents’ adventurous international travels. On their trips to Egypt, Italy, and Saudi Arabia, her mother, Anita, and her father, George, lived an entirely separate life from the one they led as the parents of Anya and her sister – one that Anya never saw. The parents she knew were a brittle, manipulative alcoholic and a short-tempered disciplinarian: people she imagined had never been in love. When she was sixteen, Anya’s father was killed in a car accident in Ukraine. At thirty-two, she became an orphan when her mother drank herself to death. As she was cleaning out her childhood home, she suddenly discovered a trove of old letters, photographs, and journals hidden in the debris of her mother’s life. These lost documents told a very different story than the one she’d believed to be true – of a forbidden romance; of a loving marriage, and the loss of a child. With these revelations in hand, Anya undertook an investigation, interviewing relatives and family friends, traveling to Wales and Ukraine, and delving deeply into her own difficult history in search of the truth, even uncovering the real circumstances of her father’s death – not an accident, perhaps, but something more sinister. In this inspiring and unflinchingly honest debut memoir, Anya interrogates her memories of her family and examines what it means to be our parents’ children. What do we inherit, and what can we choose to leave behind? How do we escape the ghosts of someone else’s past? And can we learn to love our parents not as our parents, but simply as people? Universal and personal; heartbreaking and redemptive, My Dead Parents helps us to see why sometimes those who love us best hurt us most.

'Honest, funny and, crucially, helpful to anyone who has ever had difficulty conceiving or considered adoption, this is required reading.' Emma Thompson When journalist Rosalind Powell and her husband wanted to start a family, they had no idea of the journey that lay ahead. Encountering fertility issues and gruelling IVF treatment to no avail, but still determined to be parents, they set off on the adoption route. After many false starts and dashed hopes they eventually, and luckily, found their son. How I Met My Son is more than a memoir, it is an invaluable guide to the reality of adoption in the UK. Both joyful and heartbreaking, the path to becoming a parent is laid bare. The story explores the sadness of infertility, the rigours of IVF, the minefield of social services, the intensity of the assessment process, the difficulties of choosing a child (and being chosen) and the happiness and shock of finally bringing that child home. A candid, compelling and inspirational book about what it means to be a parent of a child that isn't, biologically, your own. 'Whether you have no children, have been through IVF, fostered, adopted or borne biological children, this stunning warts-and-all account of the yearning to parent is a must-read. Powell's experiences, told with such particular and often heart-rending hilarity, speak to the universal questions we all ask of our parents, partners, friends and ultimately of ourselves.' Cate Blanchett

One night, when Ethan reaches under his bed for a toy truck, he finds this note instead: "Monsters! Meet here for final test." Ethan is sure his parents are trying to trick him into staying under the covers, until he sees five colorful sets of eyes blinking at him from beneath the bed. Soon, a colorful parade of quirky, squeaky little monsters compete to become Ethan's monster. But only the little green monster, Gabe, has the perfect blend of stomach-rumbling and snorting needed to get Ethan into bed and keep him there so he falls asleep—which as everyone knows, is the real reason for monsters under beds. With its perfect balance of giggles and shivers, this silly-spooky prequel to the award-winning I Need My Monster and Hey, That's MY Monster! will keep young readers entertained.

He was predestined for literary greatness. If only his father hadn’t used up all the words. As the son of the Pulitzer Prize–winning poet Richard Eberhart, Dikkon Eberhart grew up surrounded by literary giants. Dinner guests included, among others, Robert Frost, Dylan Thomas, Allen Ginsberg, W. H. Auden, and T. S. Eliot, all of whom flocked to the Eberhart house to discuss, debate, and dissect the poetry of the day. To the world, they were literary icons. To Dikkon, they were friends who read him bedtime stories, gave him advice, and, on one particularly memorable occasion, helped him with his English homework. Anxious to escape his famous father’s shadow, Dikkon struggled for decades to forge an identity of his own, first in writing and then on the stage, before inadvertently stumbling upon the answer he’d been looking for all along—in the most unlikely of places. Brimming with unforgettable stories featuring some of the most colorful characters of the Beat Generation, The Time Mom Met Hitler, Frost Came to Dinner, and I Heard the Greatest Story Ever Told is a winsome coming-of-age story about one man’s search for identity and what happens when he finally finds it.

It's normal for children living in stepfamilies to have lots of different feelings and to feel different things at different times. This story shares Harriet's emotional experiences surrounding her stepfamily beginnings. The story has realistic and believable characters and situations to help readers to relate. Clear explanations of actions and emotions, and how to understand them.

This book is about the relationship between a mother-in-law and daughter-in -law, who became proxy mother and daughter. They were able to communicate across the miles and became very committed to each other. They became confidants and shared many incidents and situations from child-birth to Lucy’s Legacy. Bert knew that he had a very loving mother and wanted her to nurture his bride. His mother did so.

A short, practical guide written by a veteran classroom teacher for the less experienced teacher. The author believes that traditional educational methods fall short of preparing the new teacher for the realities and experience of the work-a-day world in the classroom. This book does just that. Discipline methods, effective lecturing techniques, efficient classroom organization and motivational techniques are among the wide variety of topics discussed. A particularly useful section is a segment on 'over 100 ideas for your classroom.' This chapter contains special lessons, class games, and unique interest-grabbing homework assignments that can be of benefit to teachers of all levels of experience and expertise.