Deeply moving . . . complex emotions and ideas are handled with disarming simplicity John W. Gardner, Former Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare. This is a book of wisdom in the form of poems, useful, yet delightful and even sometimes surprising. A single poem can shift thinking so everything is different from then on Carol Pearson, author of The Hero Within. Judys work is rooted in the shared soil of our lives, and her images help us understand how lovely and full of promise our common ground is. You hold a feast of insight in your hands. Read it and be nourished. Parker J. Palmer, author of Let Your Life Speak and A Hidden Wholeness.

Reclaim Your Fire "Teaching with Fire is a glorious collection of the poetry that has restored the faith of teachers in the highest, most transcendent values of their work with children....Those who want us to believe that teaching is a technocratic and robotic skill devoid of art or joy or beauty need to read this powerful collection. So, for that matter, do we all." ?Jonathan Kozol, author of Amazing Grace and Savage Inequalities "When reasoned argument fails, poetry helps us make sense of life. A few well-chosen images, the spinning together of words creates a way of seeing where we came from and lights up possibilities for where we might be going....Dip in, read, and ponder; share with others. It's inspiration in the very best sense." ?Deborah Meier, co-principal of The Mission Hill School, Boston and founder of a network of schools in East Harlem, New York "In the Confucian tradition it is said that the mark of a golden era is that children are the most important members of the society and teaching is the most revered profession. Our jour ney to that ideal may be a long one, but it is books like this that will sustain us - for who are we all at our best save teachers, and who matters more to us than the children?" ?Peter M. Senge, founding chair, SoL (Society for Organizational Learning) and author of The Fifth Discipline Those of us who care about the young and their education must find ways to remember what teaching and learning are really about. We must find ways to keep our hearts alive as we serve our students. Poetry has the power to keep us vital and focused on what really matters in life and in schooling. Teaching with Fire is a wonderful collection of eighty-eight poems from such well-loved poets as Walt Whitman, Langston Hughes, Billy Collins, Emily Dickinson, and Pablo Neruda. Each of these evocative poems is accompanied by a brief story from a teacher explaining the significance of the poem in his or her life's work. This beautiful book also includes an essay that describes how poetry can be used to grow both personally and professionally. Teaching With Fire was written in partnership with the Center for Teacher Formation and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Royalties from this book will be used to fund scholarship opportunities for teachers to grow and learn.

If you believe that deepening self-awareness and fostering creativity within ourselves and others are important ways we can grow as leaders, then you will find The Art and Spirit of Leadership a welcome companion on your journey. This is a book not to be read so much as to be experienced, as Judy Sorum Brown takes us to places and among people with the skill of a poet and short-story writer. Read it with all your senses." John Diffey, President and CEO, The Kendal Corporation, "Judy Brown does the impossible in the Art and Spirit of Leadership-she offers hugely important information in a book that reads like a beautiful novel. I couldn't stop turning the pages! The elegant combination of research and skills with poetry and story offers both a reader's delight and a hugely practical resource." Sally Z. Hare, Ph. D., Singleton Distinguished Professor Emerita, Coastal Carolina University, and President, still learning, inc.

A guide for teens and young adults on the power of creative journaling and its role in enhancing self-discovery and self-awareness • Provides encouragement for creative writing, self-expression, and self-dialogue • Includes journaling exercises to inspire creativity and cultivate self-esteem • By the author of Teen Psychic and The Thundering Years, winner of the 2002 Independent Publisher Book Award for multicultural juvenile nonfiction Most teens and young adults search for ways to express their individuality and to discover who they are, without being judged. In Spiritual Journaling Julie Tallard Johnson shows that journaling is an informative and supportive outlet for the joys, frustrations, and questions that arise for those making the transition toward their own independent ideas and lives--and a powerful tool for awakening creative potential. Johnson encourages young people to discover their own unique voices by offering guidance on writing and other forms of self-expression and self-dialogue and on learning how to listen to inner wisdom. As readers move through the book and write in their own personal journals, they gain insight about themselves--knowledge reflected in their own words and the writing of other young people included in the book. The journaling tools provided include meditations, consulting oracles, writing poetry, visualizations, writing rituals, and problem solving around spiritual questions.

If God has promised to give us the “peace that passes understanding,” why do we sometimes feel so anxious? What are we so afraid of? Are there ways of living that lead to peace? Conversely, are there ways of thinking and acting that lead to anxiety and a conflicted life? How does Jesus embody peace and where did his peace come from? The Peace God Promises sets our longings for peace beside God’s promise to provide it. In her desire to experience greater peace, bestselling author Ann Spangler probes these and other questions. Exploring the stories that shape us, the memories that define us, and the relationships that connect us, she looks for ways to help us become more peaceful. What can we learn from Scripture, from Jewish tradition, from the Amish and others about rest, simplicity, healing, and peace? The stories she shares and the answers she discovers may surprise you. If you put them into practice, they may even transform you, enabling you to experience the peace God wants you to have.

If God has promised to give us the “peace that passes understanding,” why do we sometimes feel so anxious? What are we so afraid of? Are there ways of living that lead to peace? Conversely, are there ways of thinking and acting that lead to anxiety and a conflicted life? How does Jesus embody peace and where did his peace come from? Finding the Peace God Promises sets our longings for peace beside God’s promise to provide it. Exploring the stories that shape us, the memories that define us, and the relationships that connect us, bestselling author Ann Spangler looks for ways to help us become more peaceful. What can we learn from Scripture, from Jewish tradition, from the Amish and others about rest, simplicity, healing, and peace? The stories she shares and the answers she discovers may surprise you, enabling you to experience the transformative peace God wants you to have.