Books for All Seasons

Raven Elderbee and Baby Darby   By A.M. Luzzader  On the day her family plans to search and collect pumpkin seeds, Raven suggests doing extra household chores instead. Not because she loves house cleaning, but it's her only way to avoid collecting seeds. Raven dislikes the slimy, sticky, and itchy pumpkin goo. She thinks that the pumpkin seed-collecting adventure is not fun, even though she loves eating and looking at them. Raven's mother, Agatha, is delighted to hear Raven's suggestion because she could leave little Darby at home with Raven. Babysitting is not in Raven's plan, but since she does not have a choice anymore, she accepts the challenge to look after her baby brother. When her parents leave, Raven dutifully tends to her brother. Just in time, her best friend, Skye, arrives. Skye volunteers to help babysit Darby. The two friends play some games while little Darby plays with his own toys close by. Raven and Skye get so engrossed in their games that they fail...

Chains of Fate: A Novel by Melissa Cole T he transatlantic slave trade was widespread between the 17th and 18th centuries, primarily due to the burgeoning large plantations in North and South America. To reduce costs and maximize profits, plantation owners had to employ slaves. Most of these slaves were shipped from Africa, although there might have been others transported from different countries. In the book "Chains of Fate," the indentured slaves were taken from London. Chains of Fate follows the life journey of an orphan in London named Thomas Everhart. Thomas lives on the streets with a few other kids. One night, while they were sleeping, some thugs came to their squalid dwelling and announced their intent. The thugs told them that they had been recruited for the New World. Defenseless, the orphans were forcibly taken from their place and shoved into a vehicle. The orphans, including Emily, the only girl in the group, were put on a ship to Jamestown, Virginia, and eventu...

Harriet Tubman: A Life from Beginning to End by Hourly History 1619 marked the beginning of slavery in the United States, as the first African slaves were brought to Jamestown, Virginia by Dutch traders. Amid the silent suffering of these slaves, there was one woman who courageously rose and risked her life to help others gain their freedom. She was Harriet Tubman! Hourly History presents a concise history of the woman who facilitated the escape of many African slaves in America. Her name is Harriet Tubman. Born Araminta "Minty" Ross, Tubman's family was owned by different slaveholders. As a slave, she suffered whippings from her master that left her scarred for the rest of her life and also injured her health. Due to the injustice she suffered, Tubman learned to resist and ran away. After gaining her freedom, Tubman decided to work to free other slaves, including her own children. She used ingenious methods to carry out her mission, such as working at night and during w...

  Home for the Bewildered by Michelle Tobin As much as she tries to, Dorothy finds it difficult to separate her personal struggles from her patients' experiences. How she dealt with such difficulty may resonate among other practitioners in the field of mental health. Home for the Bewildered  follows the struggles of Dr. Dorothy Morrissey, a psychologist at St. Lawrence Asylum. She handles a handful of patients whose issues somehow resonate with her own personal experiences.  Born and raised a Catholic, Dorothy is torn between adhering to her family's strict conservative lifestyle and adopting to her Protestant boyfriend's outlook. Dorothy's struggles do not end here. She. must also deal with her family's dynamics. While people in the mental health discipline call her a doctor, her family does not acknowledge it as a real profession. Dorothy.also feels her patients' individual conditions reflect her personal struggles. The Book and the Author Michelle...