On summer vacation, Olivia Thomas discovers that sometimes it can be difficult to be a good Catholic in middle school.

Olivia has the best present for Ian, and she can’t wait to surprise him with it on Christmas morning. But Ian likes peeking at his presents, so Olivia must find the perfect hiding place. After all, being surprised on Christmas morning is the best part of Christmas! Come along with Olivia as she gets a surprise of her own in this charming paper-over-board storybook with shiny foil on the cover!

"It's the ultimate show-and-tell day at school. Olivia can't wait to show her favorite things. But what favorite things should she bring?"--P. [4] of cover.

?Soul of the age!? Ben Jonson eulogized Shakespeare, and in the next breath, ?He was not of an age but for all time.? That he was both ?of the age? and ?for all time? is, this book suggests, the key to Shakespeare?s comic genius. In this engaging introduction to the First Folio comedies, Paul A. Olson gives a persuasive and thoroughly engrossing account of the playwright?s comic transcendence, showing how Shakespeare, by taking on the great themes of his time, elevated comedy from a mere mid-level literary form to its own form of greatness?on par with epic and tragedy. Like the best tragic or epic writers, Shakespeare in his comedies goes beyond private and domestic matters in order to draw on the whole of the commonwealth. He examines how a ruler?s or a court?s community at the household and local levels shapes the politics of empire?existing or nascent empires such as England, the Holy Roman Empire, Spain, Venice, and the Ottoman Empire or part empires such as Rome and Athens?where all their suffering and silliness play into how they govern. In Olson?s work we also see how Shakespeare?s appropriation of his age?s ideas about classical myth and biblical scriptures bring to his comic action a sort of sacral profundity in keeping with notions of poetry as ?inspired? and comic endings as more than merely happy but as, in fact, uncommonly joyful.

When Anne Abbot moves to Brewster, Olivia Marsden takes an immediate dislike to the newcomer. Anne’s perkiness really rankles, and Olivia finds the open way she talks about her faith very annoying. Overwhelmed with the prospect of making a good impression in this, her fifth town in eight years of not-so-happy marriage, Anne prays for a deep friendship and finds herself drawn to cool, aloof Olivia. One day, Olivia faces a family emergency and turns to Anne for help. In one evening, the two become fast friends. The fledgling friendship deepens when Anne is diagnosed with breast cancer. Misunderstandings, the shadow of death, and a beautiful new life play out in the alternating voices of the main characters. After Anne marks the first of an exceptional new novel series. Readers will be drawn to the intimacy of Libby and Anne's narratives and inspired by their story of friendship, forged by fire and inspired by God.

Two boys, whose father, a mob boss, is gunned down in cold blood, catapulting one into sudden unwanted responsibility. A girl, orphaned at three, taken by her rich grandmother to live in Atlanta. A ghetto kid, turned football player, shot down in an alley. An FBI agent, losing almost his entire family in a single day. A gifted musician, with an eye for women, suddenly distracted by a stranger. A woman, to all outward appearances wealthy and talented, who carries a dark secret. Then a murder occurs. Is there a connection?

From the creator/director of the Love Comes Softly film series-- A story both bittersweet and heartwarming of a mother and her son...and of his unusual gift. The decade of the 'thirties was a time of enormous uncertainty--for the world, for America, and in particular for one lonely, struggling mother and her disabled son. Their story is one of unyielding love and incredible sacrifices in the face of circumstances beyond belief. But then The Gift appears...where has it come from, and why? How can a young boy who cannot communicate provide comfort and direction to seekers who learn of the special ability? Whatever the source, its presence brings a single shaft of light and hope to Mary and her beloved son, Jack....Will it be enough? A novel filled with passion, with yearning...and with hope.