I am Val Bowera daughter, wife, mother, sister, grandmother, and friend. I gave birth to three beautiful children and later adopted two more; I also have four stepchildren. I have spent the majority of my adult life working with people who need some kind of help. Usually a little bit of stress is a good motivator for me. But when you hear the word cancer and the doctor is talking about your child, your mind does not know what to do. When the next doctor tells you he has two weeksor maybe a monthto live, you pray. Someone once told me that I didnt have enough faith. I was taught to pray, Gods will be done. I said that prayer for months and then added, God give me strength to face the future. I kept a journal of the days and weeks of struggles and hardships, based on this moms feelings. I have no intention of causing pain or anger to anyone; it is all based on my opinion. My wish is that after reading this, parents will hold their babies more often. Sisters and brothers will say I love you and mean it. I wish for families to realize that tomorrow may not come. Every day should have a memory to hang on to.

An interactive marriage journal featuring weekly questions to help navigate and deepen your relationship through consistent communication.

"You can survive a nuclear blast. All you need is some luck, and maybe a customized business suit coated in cockroaches. It could work. At least that's what Dean believed before the bombs actually dropped and his suit led him to murder a very important man at the foot of a blackened obelisk. Now D.C. is looking awfully empty. Life on Earth is pretty much coming to an end. All of which leaves Dean with a single question-"What now?" The answer to that question will take him on an uncanny voyage across a newly nuclear America where he must confront the problems associated with loneliness, radiation, love, and an ever-evolving cockroach suit with a mind of its own. Dean's bizarre adventures mark the last chronicle of human existence, the final entries in our species' own ..."--Publisher description

Curveball is a science fiction graphic novel telling the story of a waiter named Avery coping with the ending of a difficult relationship. Having spent years attempting to build something substantial with an indecisive sailor named Christophe, Avery stubbornly holds on despite the mounting evidence against him. The idea of the relationship has eclipsed it's reality and in Avery's already troubled life, the allure of something dependable is a powerful force. Curveball focuses on the duality of hope and delusion. How ignorance is integral to surviving our day to day lives but can be incredibly destructive if allowed to blossom into 'optimism'. This is the gorgeous debut of a talented young cartoonist telling the most universal of tales: a love story.

How do young children bridge the gap between "writing" a story with pictures and writing with words? How children learn to use written words to tell a story is a topic important to both cognitive development and early literacy instruction. Using the theoretical framework developed by Vygotsky, the behavior of a group of prekindergarten children as they author two consecutive pieces of writing is analyzed. The children tell their stories at first with spoken words and pictures. As they discuss their work-in-progress in public conferences, they discover how to build on and combine existing skills to produce a new skill -- telling stories with written words. Current descriptive and theoretical perspectives on beginning writing are presented in this volume, with a particular focus on Vygotsky's concept of the zone of proximal development, a period of sensitivity in which learning advances. The proposed mechanism of change is verbal mediation -- talk among peers and teachers as they discuss work-in-progress -- which moves the children through the zone of proximal development. An open, whole-language approach to literacy instruction makes the classroom in this book an ideal arena in which to observe verbal mediation in operation. Children are free to question, criticize and argue; and in the process they collectively advance their developing ability to use written language. The work is unique in that the rich and comprehensive data record is reproduced in its entirety. More than 400 illustrations of the children's products -- two "books" apiece, pictured before and after the children's revisions -- are included, along with transcripts of the conferences about each of the pages, permitting direct observation of the effects of verbal mediation. This dynamic study documents change during a period of time when specific learning is occurring, and provides strong support for the value and power of Vygotsky's theoretical framework.

Five stranded teenagers must battle for their lives against a group of escaped convicts, and each other, in this shocking survival thriller from the author of Bad Girls and Lost Summer. Courtney Stanton thinks she's on just another ski trip with her friends -- until a horrific car accident strands them all on an isolated Colorado road during a blizzard. Frightened but alive, Courtney and her companions discover an abandoned vehicle nearby, and seek help. But the vehicle turns out to be a prison van, with the inmates missing, and the guard's dead body in the front seat. Soon after, a stumbling figure emerges from the snow, a handcuffed refugee from the van. He says he's been in prison for selling meth, but that he once served in the army. Dare they trust him? He pleads innocence about the guard's murder, warns them about the other fugitives, and promises he will help guide them out of the wilderness. But as the group begins a nightmare trek across the frozen landscape, they start to get the feeling he hasn't told them the entire truth, and someone -- or something -- is secretly watching their every move.

Melissa If One Life... isn't just a love story, it is a life-changing experience revealing the mystery of living a courageous life filled with love, joy, and hope no matter the circumstances.