Her Brothers Keeper

Charlotte came to Amish country to find answers. What she never expected to find was peace. Charlotte Dolinsky is not above playing dress-up and telling a few lies to find out what happened to her only brother. In fact, that is exactly what she’s come to Lancaster County to do. Now, calling herself Mary and slipping on a kapp, Charlotte will lie her way into the confidence of anyone who knows why Ethan had to die. Unless she gets found out first. But when Charlotte befriends a quiet Amish man named Isaac Miller, she begins to rethink her motives. And with a little help from a friend back home, Charlotte might find out that love comes packaged in ways she couldn’t have foreseen. Isaac’s been caring for his cancer-stricken father and sympathizing with his frustrated mother for three difficult years. And that means he hasn’t been dating. He believes Hannah King is the woman for him, but Hannah is still grieving the loss of her fiancé, and Isaac has all he can handle on the farm. When Hannah’s family plays host to a woman named Mary, their new cousin shakes things up for all of them. As Charlotte digs deeper into the mystery of Ethan’s death, she finds more than she’d bargained for in the community he once called home. But will she ever learn the truth? And what will the community—and her new family—do if they learn the truth about her?

With war looming on the horizon and winter setting in, can two children escape North Korea on their own? Winner of the Freeman Book Award! North Korea. December, 1950. Twelve-year-old Sora and her family live under an iron set of rules: No travel without a permit. No criticism of the government. No absences from Communist meetings. Wear red. Hang pictures of the Great Leader. Don't trust your neighbors. Don't speak your mind. You are being watched. But war is coming, war between North and South Korea, between the Soviets and the Americans. War causes chaos--and war is the perfect time to escape. The plan is simple: Sora and her family will walk hundreds of miles to the South Korean city of Busan from their tiny mountain village. They just need to avoid napalm, frostbite, border guards, and enemy soldiers. But they can't. And when an incendiary bombing changes everything, Sora and her little brother Young will have to get to Busan on their own. Can a twelve-year-old girl and her eight-year-old brother survive three hundred miles of warzone in winter? Haunting, timely, and beautiful, this harrowing novel from a searing new talent offers readers a glimpse into a vanished time and a closed nation. A Jane Addams Children's Book Award Finalist An ILA Intermediate Fiction Award Winner An American Library Association Notable Children’s Book A Kirkus Reviews Best Book of the Year A Junior Library Guild Selection A Bank Street Best Children's Book of the Year "Will ultimately be recognized as one of the best books... on the Korean War."—Education About Asia, the Association for Asian Studies

The death of a sibling is unlike any other. Gloria Reuben’s little brother died just before his twenty-second birthday. Two decades later, her oldest brother Denis died two weeks short of his sixtieth birthday. Just as Gloria felt like she was finally healing from David’s death, the shock of Denis’ unexpected death was almost too much to take. In My Brothers’ Keeper, Gloria bares her soul as she reveals the intimate details of her life at home as a young girl. How the death of her father when she was twelve shaped her view of love and life. How David’s death was the impetus for her move from Canada to the United States. And how her brother Denis was her heart’s twin in a multitude of ways. Gloria, most well known as an actress, debuts her talent as a writer in My Brothers’ Keeper, an intimate and honest tribute to David and Denis. Their lives. Their deaths. And the hope that awaits. “Gloria has written a truly wonderful and inspirational tribute to her brothers and to life. Helpful to all of us who have suffered losses.”—Pete Earley

In a captivating debut novel that is both humorous and heartwrenching, ReShonda Tate Billingsley -- winner of the Gold Pen Award for Best New Author -- spins an irresistible story that will touch every reader's heart. Aja James hasn't had it easy. She has kept a close watch over her siblings ever since tragedy robbed them of their parents. Tired of carrying the weight of the world on her shoulders, Aja is ready for a change. Her best friend, Roxie, knows just what to do -- she sets Aja up on a date with one of the most sought after bachelors in town, handsome sportscaster Charles Clayton. Charles is everything Aja has ever dreamed of -- sensitive, sexy, and charming. But "happily ever after" isn't that simple. While Aja has rebounded from the loss of her parents, her sister and brother have not. Jada is lost in a world of silence with no way for Aja to reach her, and Eric's uncontrollable rage is wreaking havoc on his life. As Aja sees her brother heading down the same violent path that destroyed their family, she makes it her business to stop the cycle -- even if it means putting her own life, and her own chance at love, on hold. My Brother's Keeper is a poignant novel about a resilient family learning that sometimes you have to forgive in order to find the strength to move on.

Are we responsible for the well-being of our neighbors and our friends and family? Obeying the command of God is detrimental in our efforts to reap, eternal life. I have attempted to share my efforts from personal experiences through the power of the Holy Spirit guiding my actions. The Psalm, in 37:25, says, I have been young, and now am old; Yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, Nor his descendants begging bread (NKJV). The author, Andrew Earl Stafford, took years to chronicle his experiences for over seventy years as he interprets how the Holy Spirit guided him to be a leader to his family, community, and nation in sharing the presence of God in our everyday lives. Andrew became aware of the presence of God at an early age as he observed how God protected and provided for his mother, Maezell, who in the 1940s, turned down welfare because she viewed it as a trap to create dependence, rather than an opportunity to succeed. Four boys and one girl to raise, Maezell was told by the welfare department that she could not own a car because it was considered a luxury. Well, Maezells response was that, she needed a car to transport her children to school, besides, she worked at a laundry until she retired. Their father, Clifford, after leaving the navy, had no choice but to try and earn a living playing baseball in the, Old Negro Baseball Leagues. His absence from the family created a situation of divorce. Though they face possible economic challenges, Maezells goal was to make sure all of her children finished high school. They all did, and most with honors and all with perfect attendances. Andrews book covers his struggles in poverty, racism, family, society, and in the realm of spiritual warfare. Although you walk through the valley of the shadow of death, theres no reason to fear evil. Andrew learned firsthand how God will empower each of us to make this world a better place to live if we are willing to wait on him.

Originally published: Honesdale, Pa.: Front Street, 2000.

What would cause the Amish to move to Colorado, leaving family and friends behind? Some Amish are making the trek to Colorado for cheaper land. Others are fleeing strict bishops with long memories. For Emily Detweiler and her family, the move is more personal. Tragedy struck Emily in Ohio, shaking loose everything she believed was firm, including her faith. Her family took the bold step of leaving Ohio to resettle in a small Amish community in Canaan, Colorado, where they hope the distance will help erase painful memories. David Stoltzfus's family moved to Colorado for reasons he doesn't understand. But Canaan is turning out to be something other than the promised land they all anticipated. Fearing that a health condition will cut his life short, David plans to return home to Paradise, Pennsylvania, as soon as he can. But then he meets Emily, who stirs feelings in his heart despite his apprehension about the future. Emily's growing love for David surprises her, but she fears that he will find out the truth about her past and reject her. But what if the truth is that they are made for each other? And that God longs to give them the desires of their hearts if only they will seek Him first?

Few Vietnam books treat the effects of a U.S. soldier's death on his family. This muscularly written, starkly honest memoir fills a significant gap. Smith (Fatal Treasure), an Atlanta Journal-Constitution editor, was 22 years old, the oldest of six children, when his beloved younger brother Jeff was killed by a Vietcong rocket during a firefight near the village of Mai Xa Thi on March 7, 1968. Jeff's death tore the fragile family apart: their mother retreated into severe alcoholism and an all-encompassing fixation on Jeff (who had been her favorite); their emotionally distant father-a WWII Marine beset by postwar demons-left the family for another woman. Smith's other brothers and sisters suffered severe and lasting psychological problems, and Smith himself-while outwardly coping well by marrying, having children and working his way up the journalism ladder-became an emotional cripple bent on self-destruction: "Not only did I thoroughly embrace alcohol, but I also became kind of psychotic." Smith tells his story with bluntness and conviction, including what becomes a cathartic happy ending when he and two of his brother's fellow Marines make a journey to Vietnam in 2001 to visit the spot where Jeff died. --Publ.

Am I My Brother's Keeper? provides a powerful cautionary tale about the challenges involved in enacting large-scale educational change. The book, chronicling the Expanded Success Initiative (ESI), a four-year study focused on improving the educational outcomes of 15,000 Black and Latinx males in New York City public high schools, covers what worked, what didn't, and what we can learn from the experience. The ESI model, a precursor to President Obama's My Brother's Keeper, highlights the ways that school districts can embed educational equity into the principles and policies that guide their work with students, in contrast to implementing stand-alone initiatives that may come and go. Through the voices of students, teachers, and administrators, the book informs the implementation of other large-scale district-community partnerships designed to improve opportunities and outcomes for young people who have systematically been denied both. Most critically, the book provides policy, practice, and research recommendations to inform the next generation of work with this student population. As sustained protests across the United States call attention to the ravages of systemic racism, Am I My Brother's Keeper? highlights concrete steps that school districts can take to confront racist structures and support young people of color.

Trapped in a web of hate with no escape, a young woman discovers her attraction to the man determined to protect her may be her undoing. Will time run out, or will he find a way to protect her before her abusive father kills her?When Rowan is awarded a ballet scholarship to Michigan State University during her senior year of high school, her life's dream is finally realized. Having lost her mother at an early age and being subjected to the abuse of a destitute drunken father, she has known unimaginable loss and heartache and been left wanting for a better life-a life now within her grasp. But with one ill-fated phone call, her life is turned upside down.Logan is Rowan's best friend's older brother whose career is taking off as he prepares to graduate law school and move cross-country to the prestigious law firm that has offered him a very lucrative contract. When Rowan finds herself at Logan's mercy after he inadvertently learns of the abuse she has suffered at the hands of her father, their lives become intertwined in a way neither ever imagined nor wanted.In an effort to protect her, but with his own hands tied by her unwillingness to report the abuse, Logan strikes a deal requiring Rowan to stay with him whenever there is a chance her father might be on a drunken binge-which is often. For her agreement and cooperation, he will keep her secret. Soon, their time together weighs on them both, and they find themselves constantly tempted to step outside the bounds of their supposed platonic relationship. But there is no point. The devastating fact of the matter is their lives are moving in opposite directions-a relationship destined to die before it even has a chance to live.The ever present clock plagues them both as it ticks off the days until they are parted. But one all important question remains-after he leaves, how will he protect her from a father intent on hating her until the day he dies ... or the day he kills her?