family relationships

“Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.”

The Seventh Wish, by Kate Messner, interweaves fantasy and real life.  This middle-grade fiction novel focuses on magic, empathy, overcoming obstacles, and family/friend relationships. 

Charlie Brennan, twelve-years-old, is ice fishing when she catches her first fish.  The fish offers her a wish in trade for its freedom. 

Charlie takes up ice fishing to pay for the perfect solo dress for her upcoming Irish dancing competition.  She desperately wants to move up

What a book. What a story. What a family. The Kurcs are a Polish family who will not let the cruelty and dehumanizing Nazi and Soviet rule crush their spirit.  

We see babies born, weddings, and a family desperately wishing they were all together again. They feel lucky just to be with one another.  We follow the lives of the Kurc families’ five children through the war.  

Addy moved to France to finish his studies and stayed after finding a job. Now, he cannot return to Poland because there is no safe way to get there and he doesn’t have the right paperwork. His one hopeful thought is seeing

This graphic memoir is a thoughtful examination of a young woman learning hard truths and trying to find love and support as she figures out what to do with them. Nicole Georges has always believed her father died of colon cancer when she was very young. But she suddenly learns as an adult that he never died at all and that the truth had been hidden by her mother her entire life. The title, Calling Dr. Laura, refers to Dr. Laura, one of the most popular talk show hosts in radio history. Nicole calls Dr. Laura hoping to get advice about whether she should confront her mother about the lie. At

I first heard about the “Driving Miss Norma” Facebook page a few months ago and was excited to see that a book was in the works. At first glance, I thought the book might be too sentimental for my tastes, but I ended up loving it and its message, and I would really recommend it to anyone.

At 90 years old, Norma Bauerschmidt lost her husband of 67 years and within days received a diagnosis of stage 4 uterine cancer. Faced with a future of surgery, chemo and radiation, she decides instead to “hit the road” in an RV with her son and daughter-in-law and try to enjoy the time she has left. In

Mary Anna King’s first six years of life are anything but stable.  Three out of her five siblings are put up for adoption, and as a small child, Mary Anna tags along with her mother to meet with potential adoptive parents for each of her unborn sisters.  Mary Anna explores the many reasons for her mom’s unwanted pregnancies, and though she’s never certain of any particular one, she is sure about one thing.  She’s going to meet those sisters someday, no matter what.  Bastards is not only Mary Anna's journey of discovering who her adopted sisters are, but also discovering who she is and how

At 18, Andi Alpers has lost her will to live. Her brother Truman has died, her father has deserted the family and is putting her mother in a mental hospital. In Paris, where her father is working on a project on King Louis-Charles, Andi vows to make their three-week visit a misery. But when she finds a journal that might hold the missing key to Louis-Charles history, she completely forgets about everything, including her senior thesis, and focuses instead on solving the mystery of his death.

Rewind to the 18th century, where King Louis-Charles is imprisoned after his father and mother - Louis

Leanne and Nichole are unlikely friends and confidants. When Leanne learns that her son Jake is cheating on his wife Nichole, she is sorely disappointed to find her son following in his father's footsteps. Sean, Leanne's husband has been cheating on her for years and up to this point she has just accepted and ignored his infidelity. After telling Nichole of Jake's indiscretion she admires the way Nichole instantly refuses to accept Jake's behavior and immediately moves to dissolve their marriage. Leanne draws courage from Nichole and leaves her cheating husband of thirty years. The two women

Jory Dean is the youngest of the Dean brothers, a family created by the Commander and genetically-enhanced to be super soldiers. They are also scheduled for termination in just a few days. Jory has been missing for two years and his brothers thought he was dead. However, he is being held by the Commander at a secret lab where his team is trying to disable the chip that was implanted by the Commander in Jory's spine five years ago and damaged during his capture. The Commander does not want to lose Jory's super soldier skills and believes that he can gain Jory's compliance by promising to save