"Julie Parker's kids are her greatest gift. Still, she's not exactly heartbroken when they ask to skip a big Christmas. Her son, Nick, is taking a belated honeymoon with his bride, Blair, while her daughter, Dana, will purge every reminder of the guy who dumped her. Again. Julie feels practically giddy for one-on-one holiday time with Heath, the (much) younger man she's secretly dating. But her plans go from cozy to chaotic when Nick and Dana plead...

Although they love each other, Old Bear and his little Cub have a tug of war over which one knows best in a variety of situations.

A universal portrait and an insider's look at life in Latin America in this "vivid, graceful, tautly constructed" novel of love, anger, hope, and tragedy (Tim O'Brien). At the heart of this "profound . . . quietly stunning work that leaves soft tracks in the heart" is Chayo, the flower-seller, and her husband Candelario, the salad-maker, who finally may be blessed with the child they thought they would never have (The Washington Post Book World)....

When she agrees to meet with Jasmine as a peer counselor at their middle school, Antonia never dreams that this girl with the black lipstick and pierced eyebrow will end up helping her deal with the serious problems she faces at home and become a good friend.

"A windowless shack in the woods. A dash to safety. But when a woman finally escapes her captor, the end of the story is only the beginning of her nightmare. She says her name is Lena. Lena, who disappeared without a trace 14 years prior. She fits the profile. She has the distinctive scar. But her family swears that she isn't their Lena. The little girl who escaped the woods with her knows things she isn't sharing, and Lena's devastated father is...

"In the wake of Hilary Mantel's brilliant conclusion to her award-winning Wolf Hall trilogy, this collection of loosely autobiographical stories locates the transforming moments of a haunted childhood. Sharp and funny, these drawn-from-life stories begin in the 1950s in an insular northern village "scoured by bitter winds and rough gossip tongues." For the child narrator, the only way to survive is to get up, get on, get out. In "King Billy Is a Gentleman,"...

"Four different children from three different families ponder what the adults in their lives do during the day. Are they jumping on trampolines? Are they eating cake and ice cream while riding birthday ponies? Are they eating candy with other adults?"--

Parents tell their child that, although they once thought they knew about love, their child's presence in their lives has taught them what true love is.

Illustrations and rhyming text describe how a parent and child complement one another.

From the author of Buzzy the Bumblebee comes a child's hilarious visual interpretation of such parental idioms and witticisms as 'Hold your horses;' 'Money doesn't grow on trees;' and 'I have eyes in the back of my head.' 'Cat got your toungue?' My momma likes to say. I'm not sure what she means but I like it anyway. My cat has never tried to take my tongue away. But if he did, he'd find that it can stretch a long, long way.