Amazing (Furry) Lessons from a Dog’s Life You’ll be enthralled by this story of a man and his lovable Labrador retriever, Hannah, and what their canine friendship can show us about life, grace, and long walks in the park. Hannah was Dave’s best friend. He couldn’t imagine starting a day without her tail wagging an energetic greeting, her body wiggling with sheer gratitude when her food dish was filled, and her unbridled enthusiasm for tennis balls. (How she fit three tennis balls in her mouth at once he’ll never know.) So when Dave first learned of Hannah’s cancer diagnosis, he decided to take whatever time he had left with Hannah to cherish the moments and capture his thoughts in a journal. As he wrote about his canine friend, he soon realized that Hannah was an able (and furry) mentor of faith, grace, kindness, and forgiveness. The lessons were invaluable: from being present to trusting the master. When Hannah lived well past the expected time frame, Dave started to see that the insights he was gaining were more than just journal entries about a family pet. Through Hannah’s antics, God was preparing Dave for life itself. You won’t want to miss this heartwarming tale of a dog who knew how to live . . . and showed her owner how.

A girl's friendship with a lonely black hole leads her to face her own sadness in this original, funny, and touching middle grade novel for fans of Crenshaw and Flora & Ulysses. When eleven-year-old Stella Rodriguez shows up at NASA to request that her recording be included in Carl Sagan's Golden Record, something unexpected happens: A black hole follows her home, and sets out to live in her house as a pet. The black hole swallows everything he touches, which is challenging to say the least—but also turns out to be a convenient way to get rid of those items that Stella doesn't want around. Soon the ugly sweaters her aunt has made for her all disappear within the black hole, as does the smelly class hamster she's taking care of, and most important, all the reminders of her dead father that are just too painful to have around. It's not until Stella, her younger brother, Cosmo, the family puppy, and even the bathroom tub all get swallowed up by the black hole that Stella comes to realize she has been letting her own grief consume her. And that's not the only thing she realizes as she attempts to get back home. This is an astonishingly original and funny adventure with a great big heart.

Murder, cancer, Covid-19, an asthma attack and heart attacks: Tracey Corbett-Lynch has encountered loss in all its guises and has had to learn how to cope with life at its most difficult and overwhelming. In Loss and What It Taught Me About Living, Tracey describes these tragic losses, their impact on her and how she learnt to live alongside them with strength and grace. She recounts how she coped when it all seemed too much to bear and looks at how we can emerge from suffering forever changed by loss but filled with optimism. No two grief journeys are the same, but, as Tracey discovered, some of the stations along the route are. Her moving and uplifting story will offer comfort, practical advice and a ray of hope to anyone suffering their own loss, whatever that might be.

A guide to living life in the moment uses lessons learned from the dying to help the living find the most enjoyment and happiness.

Cats aren't a typical choice for animal-assisted psychotherapy, but Timmy and Marnia are anything but typical. Research has found that petting a cat can lower blood pressure and a cat's purr is thought to help heal body tissues and bones. But not just any cat can be a therapy cat, after all, such animals need to be friendly with strangers and willing to be touched, petted and held by unfamiliar people. They have to be tolerant ofloud voices and angry shouting, emotional distress, and sudden movements. It's a tall order for any animal,but a particular challenge for a cat. In Purr Therapy, psychotherapist and cat lover Dr. Kathleen McCoy shows how two very special cats rose to this challenge, how they helped wounded souls to heal and how they taught even her lessons in mindfulness, joyful living, and compassion. She also shows readers how animal-assisted psychotherapy works and gives them an intimate and moving inside look at how Timmy and Marina worked with patients, how their double role as animal companions and cotherapists changed lives, and how, after their untimely deaths, the grief shared by those who knew and loved them led to even more growth and healing. It's no surprise that there is a tidal wave of cat fanciers growing: even the internet prefers cats. No dog site has reached the proportions of the most popular cat sites—case in point: the mega-star Grumpy Cat who has over 2 ½ million followers! More than an internet trend, this very active market is exploding through cat video contests and festivals that are claiming the passions of millions who will benefit from—and love—Purr Therapy.

"Anguished, beautifully written... The Long Goodbye is an elegiac depiction of drama as old as life." -- The New York Times Book Review From one of America's foremost young literary voices, a transcendent portrait of the unbearable anguish of grief and the enduring power of familial love. What does it mean to mourn today, in a culture that has largely set aside rituals that acknowledge grief? After her mother died of cancer at the age of fifty-five, Meghan O'Rourke found that nothing had prepared her for the intensity of her sorrow. In the first anguished days, she began to create a record of her interior life as a mourner, trying to capture the paradox of grief-its monumental agony and microscopic intimacies-an endeavor that ultimately bloomed into a profound look at how caring for her mother during her illness changed and strengthened their bond. O'Rourke's story is one of a life gone off the rails, of how watching her mother's illness-and separating from her husband-left her fundamentally altered. But it is also one of resilience, as she observes her family persevere even in the face of immeasurable loss. With lyricism and unswerving candor, The Long Goodbye conveys the fleeting moments of joy that make up a life, and the way memory can lead us out of the jagged darkness of loss. Effortlessly blending research and reflection, the personal and the universal, it is not only an exceptional memoir, but a necessary one.

How can we know if our departed loved ones are still with us? Can guidance from beyond help our daily lives run more smoothly and feel more purposeful? Spiritual medium and bestselling author Rebecca Rosen has answers. After serving as a spiritual medium for more than two decades, Rosen knows with absolute clarity that the spirit world is always trying to get our attention. Our departed loved ones and spirit guides intervene in our lives daily to let us know that our real-life struggles have a rhyme, a reason, and a purpose and that we're not alone to figure it all out. Rosen knows how easy it is to get caught up in the demands of life while juggling the responsibilities of family, friendships, work, health, and money. She strives to be the best working mother, partner, and friend she can be, and she has to actively work to find a healthy balance. What the Dead Have Taught Me about Living Well walks you through an equally ordinary and extraordinary day in Rosen's life and reveals how she tunes in to see, hear, and feel the presence of spirits to help support and guide her forward. Through personal insights and shared extraordinary stories from the Other Side, she answers the question she's asked most frequently: How can my departed loved ones help guide me to live my best life? In What the Dead Have Taught Me about Living Well, Rosen shares the daily practices and spiritual tools she relies on to recognize and interpret signs from beyond. Spend a day with her. You'll learn how to strengthen your own connection to something bigger. This new perspective will help you better understand and navigate your day-to-day world so that new opportunities and possibilities unfold in all aspects of your life.