How a young teen comes to accept herself for who she is. Twelve-year-old Kari Ann is angry her family insists she attend a family reunion with them instead of going with her best friend to the Mall of America. She feels awkward, out-of-sink with her body and life. She hates being twelve! When Kari Ann's mother gives her a journal to capture her thoughts during the reunion, Kari Ann takes the assignment seriously and so begins a journey of discovery about life-including an exciting rescue, faith and herself. It was good at the beginning of the story. It was great to the end. I liked it very much. Thumbs up. --Alicia Age 9

A deep friendship develops between a twelve year old girl and an elderly woman that will change both of their lives. Althea's thirst for a world bigger than her own, leads her to Violet who welcomes the opportunity to share her experiences, her stories and her kitchen with a younger soul. Through their mutual love of music, travel and food, they inspire each other to become better human beings. Four years later Althea makes an amazing discovery that will change the course of Vi's life and cement their friendship forever. My Summer with Vi is a nostalgic and heartwarming tale that will take you back to another time and place.

Best friends Aldo, Pen, and Jasper stumble onto an abandoned orphanage and discover that freeing a houseful of imprisoned ghosts from an angry poltergeist could get them into serious trouble.

In Transformational Journaling for Coaches, Therapists, and Clients: A Complete Guide to the Benefits of Personal Writing, more than 50 coaches, therapists, and journaling experts from around the world share their best practices and explain in detail how they use journaling to improve their work with clients. This edited collection brings together the leading voices of the journaling world into one ground-breaking volume, providing practical techniques and tools to use with clients. Applicable and accessible, over 50 journaling luminaries share their experiences and insights across eight sections, including the logic of journaling, techniques and applications, using journaling with clients, journaling in groups, journaling for mental health and wellness, growth and healing, spirituality, creativity, and more. Through theoretical and practical applications, it illustrates the transformational process of journaling in helping clients grow, heal, and achieve their goals. This book is essential reading for coaches, therapists, and other mental health professionals, as well as those interested in using personal writing for growth and self-awareness.

Garden writing is not just a place to find advice about roses and rutabagas; it also contains hidden histories of desire, hope, and frustration and tells a story about how Americans have invested grand fantasies in the common soil of everyday life. Gardenland chronicles the development of this genre across key moments in American literature and history, from nineteenth-century industrialization and urbanization to the twentieth-century rise of factory farming and environmental advocacy to contemporary debates about public space and social justice—even to the consideration of the future of humanity’s place on earth. In exploring the hidden landscape of desire in American gardens, Gardenland examines literary fiction, horticultural publications, and environmental writing, including works by Charles Dudley Warner, Henry David Thoreau, Willa Cather, Jamaica Kincaid, John McPhee, and Leslie Marmon Silko. Ultimately, Gardenland asks what the past century and a half of garden writing might tell us about our current social and ecological moment, and it offers surprising insight into our changing views about the natural world, along with realms that may otherwise seem remote from the world of leeks and hollyhocks.