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A Gift of Joy and Hope
by Pope FrancisIn this encouraging book, Pope Francis explores the meaning of true joy and offers an inspiring message: even in dark times, the light of hope can shine bright. The past few years have been extremely challenging, but even in dark times, the light of joy can shine bright. True joy, says Pope Francis, is not a fleeting sentiment or a short-term solution to suffering; it springs from a solid hope that nothing and no one can take away. A Gift of Joy and Hope is an invitation to embrace authentic beauty and a reminder to be open to encountering God, even in the midst of challenges. In this inspiring collection, Pope Francis encourages readers to change attitudes that exclude others; to reveal the deep dissatisfaction we all hide; and to overcome life&’s challenges with courage and faith. He also challenges readers to hope without pessimism or doubt, to hope even in the midst of anxiety, to recognize the beauty all around us, and to let God show us how to deal with your doubts and fears. This book aims to encourage readers to look outside themselves and believe that hope is still possible and that joy always has the last word.
A Gift of Love: Lessons Learned from my Work and Friendship with Mother Teresa
by Tony CointreauI wrote A Gift of Love because people kept asking me to do so, telling me that there was a great need for it. Perhaps it was their parents who were dying, or another family member, or a close friend, and they needed to know what they could do for their loved ones in those last weeks, days, or hours. They knew that I had worked with Mother Teresa as a volunteer in her homes for the dying, and had twelve years’ experience in what they were facing perhaps for the first time, and asked me to pass on some of my knowledge. In 1979, when I saw a magazine photograph of one of Mother Teresa’s volunteers carrying a dying man in his arms, I knew in an instant that I had to become a part of this work. It was certainly not a religious calling, but a simple calling to give something of myself to others. I felt that if I could comfort one dying person, my life would have had purpose. It took me ten years to enter the world that I had only seen a glimpse of in that magazine article. When I did, it was during the worst of the AIDS crisis in the United States, in a hospice called “Gift of Love” in New York City, which had been opened by Mother Teresa in 1985. It had room for fifteen dying men, most of them from a world I had never known?a world of drugs, poverty, and crime, a far cry from the privileged life of châteaus in Europe that I had been brought up in, and later on, the world of show business in which I had been able to fulfill some of my greatest dreams. In the years to come, these men, who were dying of AIDS and had never been given much of a chance in life, taught me not only about the many ways to help others die in an atmosphere of peace and love, but also how to enjoy the richness of living our lives fully until the very end. Whenever Mother Teresa asked me to sing for her on her little terrace in Calcutta, I never said “No.” And when I asked her to help me write about caring for loved ones in their last days, she also never said “No.” What a blessing—thank you, Mother! If I can reach just one person who is flailing around in panic and fear while trying to help a loved one at the end of their life, my journey will have been worthwhile.
A Girl Called Vincent: The Life of Poet Edna St. Vincent Millay
by Krystyna Poray GodduThere was never anything calm about Vincent. Her sisters used to say that she had a bee chasing her. Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892–1950), known as Vincent, was an acclaimed American poet who came to embody the modern, liberated woman of the Jazz Age. From the fiery energy of her youth to the excitement and acclaim of her early adulthood in New York and Paris, to the demands of living in the public eye, Vincent's life was characterized by creativity, hard work, and passion. A Girl Called Vincent traces her incredible journey from a unique and talented girl to an international celebrity and Pulitzer Prize–winning poet. Raised in poverty in rural Maine, where she was often the sole caretaker of her two younger sisters, the rebellious, creative, red-haired Vincent always found time for writing, acting, singing, and playing piano. She became a sensation in young adulthood, bewitching audiences with her words, voice, and luminous appearance. She mixed with the literary figures of her time and broke many hearts. Her volumes of poetry were enormous bestsellers and audiences nationwide went wild when she recited her works onstage. In addition to poetry, Vincent's body of work includes plays, translations, and an opera, and ranges from love sonnets to antiwar propaganda.Packed with photos, poems, letter and diary excerpts, a time line, and bibliographic notes, A Girl Called Vincent is an eye-opening and valuable addition to any young reader's or aspiring writer's bookshelf.
A Girl Named Faithful Plum: The True Story of a Dancer from China and How She Achieved Her Dream
by Richard BernsteinIn 1977, when Zhongmei Lei was eleven years old, she learned that the prestigious Beijing Dance Academy was having open auditions. She'd already taken dance lessons, but everyone said a poor country girl would never get into the academy, especially without any connections in the Communist Party of the 1970s. But Zhongmei, whose name means Faithful Plum, persisted, even going on a hunger strike, until her parents agreed to allow her to go. She traveled for three days and two nights to get to Beijing and eventually beat out 60,000 other girls for one of 12 coveted spots. But getting in was easy compared to staying in, as Zhongmei soon learned. Without those all-important connections she was just a little girl on her own, far away from family. But her determination, talent, and sheer force of will were not something the teachers or other students expected, and soon it was apparent that Zhongmei was not to be underestimated. Zhongmei became a famous dancer, and founded her own dance company, which made its New York debut when she was in just her late 20s. In A Girl Named Faithful Plum, her husband and renowned journalist, Richard Bernstein, has written a fascinating account of one girl's struggle to go from the remote farmlands of China to the world's stages, and the lengths she went to in order to follow her dream.From the Hardcover edition.
A Girl Named Helen Keller (Hello Reader Level #3)
by Margo LundellRead about the life of a blind and deaf girl who brought hope to other people in the world.
A Girl Named Lovely: One Child's Miraculous Survival and My Journey to the Heart of Haiti
by Catherine PorterAn insightful and uplifting memoir about a young Haitian girl in post-earthquake Haiti, and the profound, life-changing effect she had on one journalist's life.In January 2010, a devastating earthquake struck Haiti, killing hundreds of thousands of people and paralyzing the country. Catherine Porter, a newly minted international reporter, was on the ground in the immediate aftermath. Moments after she arrived in Haiti, Catherine found her first story. A ragtag group of volunteers told her about a “miracle child”—a two-year-old girl who had survived six days under the rubble and emerged virtually unscathed. Catherine found the girl the next day. Her family was a mystery; her future uncertain. Her name was Lovely. She seemed a symbol of Haiti—both hopeful and despairing. When Catherine learned that Lovely had been reunited with her family, she did what any journalist would do and followed the story. The cardinal rule of journalism is to remain objective and not become personally involved in the stories you report. But Catherine broke that rule on the last day of her second trip to Haiti. That day, Catherine made the simple decision to enroll Lovely in school, and to pay for it with money she and her readers donated. Over the next five years, Catherine would visit Lovely and her family seventeen times, while also reporting on the country’s struggles to harness the international rush of aid. Each trip, Catherine's relationship with Lovely and her family became more involved and more complicated. Trying to balance her instincts as a mother and a journalist, and increasingly conscious of the costs involved, Catherine found herself struggling to align her worldview with the realities of Haiti after the earthquake. Although her dual roles as donor and journalist were constantly at odds, as one piled up expectations and the other documented failures, a third role had emerged and quietly become the most important: that of a friend. A Girl Named Lovely is about the reverberations of a single decision—in Lovely’s life and in Catherine’s. It recounts a journalist’s voyage into the poorest country in the Western hemisphere, hit by the greatest natural disaster in modern history, and the fraught, messy realities of international aid. It is about hope, kindness, heartbreak, and the modest but meaningful difference one person can make.
A Girl Named Zippy: Growing Up Small in Mooreland Indiana
by Haven KimmelWhen Haven Kimmel was born in 1965, Mooreland, Indiana, was a sleepy little hamlet of three hundred people. <P><P> Nicknamed "Zippy" for the way she would bolt around the house, this small girl was possessed of big eyes and even bigger ears. In this witty and lovingly told memoir, Kimmel takes readers back to a time when small-town America was caught in the amber of the innocent postwar period-people helped their neighbors, went to church on Sunday, and kept barnyard animals in their backyards. <P><P>Laced with fine storytelling, sharp wit, dead-on observations, and moments of sheer joy, Haven Kimmel's straight-shooting portrait of her childhood gives us a heroine who is wonderfully sweet and sly as she navigates the quirky adult world that surrounds Zippy.
A Girl Walks into a Book: What the Brontës Taught Me about Life, Love, and Women's Work
by Miranda PenningtonHow many times have you heard readers argue about which is better, Jane Eyre or Wuthering Heights? The works of Charlotte, Emily, and Anne continue to provoke passionate fandom over a century after their deaths. Brontë enthusiasts, as well as those of us who never made it further than those oft-cited classics, will devour Miranda Pennington's delightful literary memoir.Pennington, today a writer and teacher in New York, was a precocious reader. Her father gave her Jane Eyre at the age of 10, sparking what would become a lifelong devotion and multiple re-readings. She began to delve into the work and lives of the Brontës, finding that the sisters were at times her lifeline, her sounding board, even her closest friends. In this charming, offbeat memoir, Pennington traces the development of the Brontës as women, as sisters, and as writers, as she recounts her own struggles to fit in as a bookish, introverted, bisexual woman. In the Brontës and their characters, Pennington finally finds the heroines she needs, and she becomes obsessed with their wisdom, courage, and fearlessness. Her obsession makes for an entirely absorbing and unique read. A Girl Walks Into a Book is a candid and emotional love affair that braids criticism, biography and literature into a quest that helps us understand the place of literature in our lives; how it affects and inspires us.
A Girl and Five Brave Horses
by Sonora Carver Elizabeth LandSonora Carver, when she was 16 never dreamed that she would be in show business doing an act that was amazing and exciting. But when she ran into Dr. Carver, and saw the Diving Horses act, she fell in love. Sonora had a great life traveling the country, riding and doing shows, and loving the horses she worked with. Klataw, John the Baptist, Juda, Red Lips, Snow, and Lightning, all were her family and her friends. Then one day Red Lips did a very dramatic nose dive and Sonora hit the water with her eyes open and face first. Her life changed after that day and this is her story. This book was the inspiration for the movie "Wild Hearts Can't Be Broken".
A Girl and Five Brave Horses
by Sonora CarverA Girl and Five Brave Horses is the story of Sonora Carver and was the basis for the movie Wild Hearts Can't be Broken. Carver answered the following want ad: Wanted: Attractive young woman who can swim and dive. Likes horses, desires to travel. See Dr. W. F. Carver, Savannah Hotel. From there she became the first woman to jump from forty and sixty feet into a pool of water with diving horses. Carver was blinded during a jump as a result of hitting the water off balance and detaching both of her retinas. Despite this she continued to jump for another eleven years. An amazing and inspiring story. Wilder Publications is a green publisher. All of our books are printed to order. This reduces waste and helps us keep prices low while greatly reducing our impact on the environment.
A Girl from Yamhill: A Memoir
by Beverly ClearyTold in her own words, A Girl from Yamhill is Newbery Medal-winning author Beverly Cleary's heartfelt and relatable memoir--now with a beautifully redesigned cover!Generations of children have read Beverly Cleary's books. From Ramona Quimby to Henry Huggins, Ralph S. Mouse to Ellen Tebbits, she has created an evergreen body of work based on the humorous tales and heartfelt anxieties of middle graders. But in A Girl from Yamhill, Beverly Cleary tells a more personal story--her story--of what adolescence was like. In warm but honest detail, Beverly describes life in Oregon during the Great Depression, including her difficulties in learning to read, and offers a slew of anecdotes that were, perhaps, the inspiration for some of her beloved stories.For everyone who has enjoyed the pranks and schemes, embarrassing moments, and all of the other poignant and colorful images of childhood brought to life in Beverly Cleary's books, here is the fascinating true story of the remarkable woman who created them.
A Girl's Got To Breathe: The Life of Teresa Wright (Hollywood Legends Series)
by Donald SpotoThe actress Teresa Wright (1918–2005) lived a rich, complex, magnificent life against the backdrop of Golden Age Hollywood, Broadway and television. There was no indication, from her astonishingly difficult—indeed, horrifying—childhood, of the success that would follow, nor of the universal acclaim and admiration that accompanied her everywhere. Her two marriages—to the writers Niven Busch (The Postman Always Rings Twice; Duel in the Sun) and Robert Anderson (Tea and Sympathy; I Never Sang for My Father)—provide a good deal of the drama, warmth, poignancy and heartbreak of her life story. “I never wanted to be a star,” she told the noted biographer Donald Spoto at dinner in 1978. “I wanted only to be an actress.” She began acting on the stage in summer stock and repertory at the age of eighteen. When Thornton Wilder and Jed Harris saw her in an ingénue role, she was chosen to understudy the part of Emily in the original production of Our Town (1938), which she then played in touring productions. Samuel Goldwyn saw her first starring role on Broadway—in the historic production of Life with Father—and at once he offered her a long contract. She was the only actress to be nominated for an Academy Award for her first three pictures (The Little Foxes; The Pride of the Yankees; and Mrs. Miniver), and she won for the third film. Movie fans and scholars to this day admire her performance in the classics Shadow of a Doubt and The Best Years of Our Lives. The circumstances of her tenure at Goldwyn, and the drama of her breaking that contract, forever changed the treatment of stars. Wright's family and heirs appointed Spoto as her authorized biographer and offered him exclusive access to her letters and papers. Major supporting players in this story include Robert Anderson, Alfred Hitchcock, William Wyler, Karl Malden, Elia Kazan, Jean Simmons, Dorothy McGuire, Bette Davis, George Cukor, Marlon Brando, George C. Scott, the artist Al Hirschfeld, Stella Adler, and more.
A Girl's Guide to Missiles: Growing Up in America's Secret Desert
by Karen PiperA surreal and poignant coming of age on a secretive missile facility, and "an incredible view of...life in a town built for war."--BooklistThe China Lake missile range is located in a huge stretch of the Mojave Desert, about the size of the state of Delaware. It was created during the Second World War, and has always been shrouded in secrecy. But people who make missiles and other weapons are regular working people, with domestic routines and everyday dilemmas, and four of them were Karen Piper's parents, her sister, and--when she needed summer jobs--herself. Her dad designed the Sidewinder, which was ultimately used catastrophically in Vietnam. When her mom got tired of being a stay-at-home mom, she went to work on the Tomahawk. Once, when a missile nose needed to be taken offsite for final testing, her mother loaded it into the trunk of the family car, and set off down a Los Angeles freeway. Traffic was heavy, and so she stopped off at the mall, leaving the missile in the parking lot.Piper sketches in the belief systems--from Amway's get-rich schemes to propaganda in The Rocketeer to evangelism, along with fears of a Lemurian takeover and Charles Manson--that governed their lives. Her memoir is also a search for the truth of the past and what really brought her parents to China Lake with two young daughters, a story that reaches back to her father's World War II flights with contraband across Europe. Finally, it recounts the crossroads moment in a young woman's life when she finally found a way out of a culture of secrets and fear, and out of the desert.
A Girl's Life Online
by Katherine TarboxKatherine Tarbox was thirteen when she met twenty-three-year-old "Mark" in an online chat room. A top student and nationally ranked swimmer attending an elite school in an affluent Connecticut town, Katie was also a lonely and self-conscious eighth-grader who craved the attention her workaholic parents couldn't give her. "Mark" seemed to understand her; he told her she was smart and wonderful. When they set a date to finally meet while Katie was in Texas for a swim competition, she walked into a hotel room and discovered who-and what-her cyber soul mate really was. In A Girl's Life Online, Tarbox, now eighteen, tells her story-an eye-opening tale of one teenager's descent into the seductive world of the Internet. Tarbox's harrowing experience with her online boyfriend would affect her life for years to come and result in her becoming the first "unnamed minor" to test a federal law enacted to protect kids from online sexual predators. In an age when a new generation is growing up online, Tarbox's memoir is a cautionary tale for the Internet Age.
A Girl's Life Online
by Katherine TarboxKatherine Tarbox was thirteen when she met twenty-three-year-old "Mark" in an online chat room. A top student and nationally ranked swimmer attending an elite school in an affluent Connecticut town, Katie was also a lonely and self-conscious eighth-grader who craved the attention her workaholic parents couldn't give her. "Mark" seemed to understand her; he told her she was smart and wonderful. When they set a date to finally meet while Katie was in Texas for a swim competition, she walked into a hotel room and discovered who-and what-her cyber soul mate really was. In A Girl's Life Online, Tarbox, now eighteen, tells her story-an eye-opening tale of one teenager's descent into the seductive world of the Internet. Tarbox's harrowing experience with her online boyfriend would affect her life for years to come and result in her becoming the first "unnamed minor" to test a federal law enacted to protect kids from online sexual predators. In an age when a new generation is growing up online, Tarbox's memoir is a cautionary tale for the Internet Age. .
A Girl's Story
by Annie ErnauxAnother masterpiece of remembering from Annie Ernaux, the Man Booker International Prize–shortlisted author of The Years. In A Girl&’s Story, Annie Ernaux revisits the season fifty years earlier when she found herself overpowered by another&’s will and desire. In the summer of 1958, eighteen-year-old Ernaux submits her will to a man&’s, and then he moves on, leaving her without a &“master,&” bereft. Now, fifty years later, she realizes she can obliterate the intervening years and return to consider this young woman that she wanted to forget completely. And to discover that here, submerged in shame, humiliation, and betrayal, but also in self-discovery and self-reliance, lies the origin of her writing life.
A Glamorously Unglamorous Life
by Julia AlbainWhen I was 22 I hopped a plane for New York City, off to pursue my destiny, sure that I'd never look back. This is my story of looking back. Of a journey that took on a whole new meaning and purpose. A year in New York City. A year of discovering the best and worst parts of myself. A year of learning the lessons that you can only learn the hard way.
A Glasgow Girl: A memoir of growing up and finding your voice
by Aasmah MirA fascinating and emotive narrative capturing the journey many second-generation Britons have travelled from the familial bonds of their parents' countries to establishing a life and identity for themselves in the United Kingdom.A Pebble In The Throat is two stories told in unison. Aasmah Mir growing up in Glasgow - the place of her birth - and the upbringing of her mother in Pakistan a generation before. It is an emotional and thought-provoking narrative on what it is like to live in two very different cultures whilst all the time aware of racism, prejudice and stereotyping of gender from the 1960s onwards. A Pebble In The Throat captures life from the lens of a little girl, teenage loner, and grown-up student leaving the safety of home - a witness, sitting on the edge of two cultures, describing what it means to be striving for acceptance in one whilst attempting to fulfil expectations in the other. It will capture the essence of life as a Pakistani in Glasgow and bring vividly to life the one character who shaped her childhood - her mother - who gave her the confidence to seize life and find her voice.(P) 2023 Headline Publishing Group Ltd
A Glimpse of Eden
by Evelyn AmesA safari in East Africa brings a couple to see Africa with new eyes and gives them a greater appreciation of its wildlife and man's natural heritage.
A Glimpse of North Sudan
by Eric Clare LowryNorth Sudan is a largely unknown, thought-to-be-unsafe land. A Glimpse of North Sudan aims to correct that. This book is far more than a travelogue. From diaries and photographs of a safe, non-alcoholic, wonderful holiday, it tells of a short tour of a smiling poor people with an ancient, frequently violent history, pyramids and tombs in royal cemeteries with wonderful paintings and reliefs to behold. It is a largely desert country but where the Blue and White Niles combine to form a majestic life-giving river on its way to the Mediterranean Sea. In addition, there are descriptions of black Sudanese pharaohs of Egypt, the lifestyle of a Bedouin family along with British involvement in ruling the country (a section on the Battle of Omdurman led by Kitchener with a young, ambitious Winston Churchill in the ranks) and of the civil wars since independence in 1956. Finally, it suggests a way out of the cul-de-sac of poverty and deprivation. This book is a must-read for the general-interest reader of a forgotten, though fascinating, land.
A Global Life: My Journey Among Rich and Poor, from Sydney to Wall Street to the World Bank
by James D. WolfensohnThe autobiography of the larger-than-life, visionary financier and humanitarian who led the World Bank through one of its most intense and tumultuous decades in the struggle against global poverty
A Glorious Freedom: Older Women Leading Extraordinary Lives
by Lisa Congdon&“The remarkable women celebrated in [this] vibrantly illustrated collection . . . offer stirring words of encouragement to any woman, of any age&” (Booklist). The glory of growing older is the freedom to be more truly ourselves. With age we gain the confidence to pursue bold new endeavors and worry less about what other people think. In this richly illustrated volume, bestselling author and artist Lisa Congdon explores the power of women over the age of forty who are thriving and living life on their own terms. A Glorious Freedom includes profiles, interviews, and essays from women such as Vera Wang, Laura Ingalls Wilder, Julia Child, Cheryl Strayed, and many others who have found creative fulfillment and accomplished great things in the second half of their lives. Each section is lavishly illustrated and hand-lettered in Congdon's signature style.
A Glorious Liberty: Frederick Douglass and the Fight for an Antislavery Constitution
by Damon RootIn this timely and provocative book, Damon Root reveals how Frederick Douglass&’s fight for an antislavery Constitution helped to shape the course of American history in the nineteenth century and beyond. At a time when the principles of the Constitution and Declaration of Independence were under assault, Frederick Douglass picked up their banner, championing inalienable rights for all, regardless of race. When Americans were killing each other on the battlefield, Douglass fought for a cause greater than the mere preservation of the Union. &“No war but an Abolition war,&” he maintained. &“No peace but an Abolition peace.&” In the aftermath of the Civil War, when state and local governments were violating the rights of the recently emancipated, Douglass preached the importance of &“the ballot-box, the jury-box, and the cartridge-box&” in the struggle against Jim Crow. Frederick Douglass, the former slave who had secretly taught himself how to read, would teach the American people a thing or two about the true meaning of the Constitution. This is the story of a fundamental debate that goes to the very heart of America&’s founding ideals—a debate that is still very much with us today.
A Glorious and Terrible Life With You
by Margaret BurgessNorthrop Frye's status as one of the most influential critics and intellectuals of the twentieth century makes it difficult to gauge the personal qualities of the man behind the work. However, an intimate picture is revealed through the correspondence Frye exchanged with his first wife, Helen Kemp, and which he bequeathed to Victoria College at the time of his death. In A Glorious and Terrible Life with You, Margaret Burgess presents the essential narrative at the heart of the correspondence, focusing on the thoughts, feelings, and formative experiences of the two central protagonists as they chronicle both their own intertwined voyages of growth and discovery and the central events of their time. Bringing to life their interactions with families and friends, their educational milieu, and the significant cultural and historical currents of the 1930s, these letters show both Frye and Kemp engaging with and contributing to the unique cultural climate of the period. Rich and compelling, they exemplify the wonderful eloquence and vitality of spirit that is evident throughout all of the correspondence. A Glorious and Terrible Life with You is a touching and highly revealing account of the relationship between two kindred spirits and remarkable minds. Lavishly illustrated, this new edition includes family photographs and original graphics by both Helen Kemp and her father, S.H.F. Kemp, mostly dating from his own student days at the University of Toronto.
A God Who Hates: The Courageous Woman Who Inflamed the Muslim World Speaks Out Against the Evils of Islam
by Wafa SultanFrom the front page of The New York Times to YouTube, Dr. Wafa Sultan has become a force radical Islam has to reckon with. For the first time, she tells her story and what she learned, first-hand, about radical Islam in A God Who Hates, a passionate memoir by an outspoken Arabic woman that is also a cautionary tale for the West. She grew up in Syria in a culture ruled by a god who hates women. "How can such a culture be anything but barbarous?", Sultan asks. "It can't", she concludes "because any culture that hates its women can't love anything else." She believes that the god who hates is waging a battle between modernity and barbarism, not a battle between religions. She also knows that it's a battle radical Islam will lose. Condemned by some and praised by others for speaking out, Sultan wants everyone to understand the danger posed by A God Who Hates.