Love Your Sister

Shortlisted for the ABIA Award (Biography of the Year) 2015 A searingly honest memoir of family, cancer, love ... and unicycles by the founders of the Love your Sister charity, Connie and Samuel Johnson, that will inspire and they hope get people talking about boobs! Born a year apart, Connie and Samuel Johnson have always been close. Faced with the devastating news that they would soon be separated forever, they made a decision. After already surviving cancer twice in her young life, at 33 Connie was diagnosed with breast cancer. But this time it was a whole different ball game. This time she was told she will die, leaving behind her two sons. As a young mum faced with her own death, Connie wanted to make it all less meaningless, and she knew just the way to do it - send her brother, Sam, on a one-wheeled odyssey around Australia. The aims: to break the world record for the longest distance travelled on a unicycle. To raise $1 million for the Garvan Research Foundation. And, most importantly, to remind women to be breast aware and stop others having to say goodbye to those they love. Their message is simple: 'Don't fall into the booby trap.' Samuel has travelled through every state and ridden more than 150,000 kilometres to raise awareness and raise research dollars. But Connie had a secret fourth aim: to fix Samuel. And it worked. Sam cleared his diary, cleaned himself up and tenaciously kept his promise to his dying sister. For them the job isn't over. They are determined to raise more money for research. Connie vows to fight until her dying day and Sam says the fight will go on long after that. These two remarkable Australians share their tale, from childhood through to the finish line and beyond in this truly unique story. Part memoir, part travel diary, part conversation, Love your Sister is an inspiring and unforgettable story that shows just how far one man will go for his sister. The Johnsons' memoir is bracing and affecting. - Sunday Age, Sun Herald Part memoir, part diary, part conversation, this is an unforgettable story of how far a brother will go for his sister. - Brisbane News There are many joyous moments as brother and sister reflect, often wryly and honestly, on the power of their bond and the full catastrophe that is family life. - Sydney Morning Herald This book, like Connie and Samuel's lives, is much bigger than their experience of misfortune. - Canberra Times

"The Sister Accord® is a resolution to encourage girls and women to engage in positive, inspiring relations with one another. The principles of The Sister Accord® have been woven into the fabric of the 51 Ways to Love Your Sister--giving girls and women tangible tools and methods for establishing strong, reciprocal relationships."--Page 4 of cover

See why everyone loves their sisters, especially you!

For readers of The Tyrant’s Daughter, Out of Nowhere, and I Am Malala, this poignant story about two Muslim sisters is about love, loss, religion, forgiveness, women’s rights, and freedom. Two sisters. Two lives. One future. Sohane loves no one more than her beautiful, carefree younger sister, Djelila. And she hates no one as much. They used to share everything. But now, Djelila is spending more time with her friends, partying, and hanging out with boys, while Sohane is becoming more religious. When Sohane starts wearing a head scarf, her school threatens to expel her. Meanwhile, Djelila is harassed by neighborhood bullies for not being Muslim enough. Sohane can’t help thinking that Djelila deserves what she gets. But she never could have imagined just how far things would go. . . . An Amelia Bloomer Project List Selection A CBC Notable Social Studies Trade Book of the Year A Bank Street Best Book of the Year with Outstanding Merit "Sarn’s poignant novel surely raises issues of religious freedom, but it is foremost a coming-of-age story about personal choice and the uniquely powerful bond between sisters."—The Horn Book Magazine "[A] moving story, which provides rich material for conversation about family relations, religious identity, and civil liberties."—Publisher's Weekly “Thought-provoking.”—Kirkus Reviews "Important and timely."—Booklist "In seamless chapters transitioning between present and past, this short, fast-paced, tragic story contrasting two clearly drawn Muslim sisters explores similar contemporary cultural and religious issues portrayed in Randa Abdel-Fattah’s Does My Head Look Big in This?"—School Library Journal “A fair and balanced look at not just two equal and opposite perspectives on these issues, but at the multiple, refracted, messy nuances in between.”—The Bulletin “A searing portrait of the conflicts within a culture.”—VOYA “Sarn writes with concise, timely insight about culture, religion, and politics, but what lingers most is the powerful bonds of sisterhood.”—smithsonianapa.org

Sisters are more than just family: they are confidantes, mentors, and friends. They light up the lives of the people around them with their joy and love, and they can always be counted on to be there when they're needed, no matter what. With this adorable book, you can let your sister know how much she means to you. Featuring Marci's endearing Children of the Inner Light(R) characters, this is a gift of love that sisters everywhere will treasure forever.

New York Times bestselling author of The Falls, Blonde, and We Were the Mulvaneys, Joyce Carol Oates returns with a dark, wry, satirical tale—inspired by an unsolved American true-crime mystery. "Dysfunctional families are all alike. Ditto 'survivors.'" So begins the unexpurgated first-person narrative of nineteen-year-old Skyler Rampike, the only surviving child of an "infamous" American family. A decade ago the Rampikes were destroyed by the murder of Skyler's six-year-old ice-skating champion sister, Bliss, and the media scrutiny that followed. Part investigation into the unsolved murder; part elegy for the lost Bliss and for Skyler's own lost childhood; and part corrosively funny exposé of the pretensions of upper-middle-class American suburbia, this captivating novel explores with unexpected sympathy and subtlety the intimate lives of those who dwell in Tabloid Hell. Likely to be Joyce Carol Oates's most controversial novel to date, as well as her most boldly satirical, this unconventional work of fiction is sure to be recognized as a classic exploration of the tragic interface between private life and the perilous life of "celebrity." In My Sister, My Love: The Intimate Story of Skyler Rampike, the incomparable Oates once again mines the depths of the sinister yet comic malaise at the heart of our contemporary culture.

Four soon-to-be-stepsisters must learn to work together as they try to make their parents’ wedding day a day to remember in this witty M!X novel in the tradition of Bridesmaids. When Avery was two, her parents divorced, and it’s just been Avery and her mom ever since—the Two Musketeers. Until Avery opens her email—on a non-holiday and not her birthday—and receives a bombshell announcement from her father. Not only is he moving back to the New York area, he is remarrying—and his soon-to-be wife has three daughters. Avery’s future stepsisters. Holy. Moly. Avery’s father is determined to make them all one happy family, so he and his fiancée ask the girls to be the bridesmaids in the upcoming wedding. And they want the girls to help with the something old, something new, something borrowed, and something blue. Meaning that Avery and the girls—who clearly want nothing to do with her—are going to be forced to spend time together. It’s one (hilarious) disaster after another as Avery tries to help and get to know her future stepsisters—who are all dealing with their own issues with the wedding. From spilling a chocolate-y drink on a very expensive dress when they go dress shopping, to turning her future step-mother’s hair bright blue days before the wedding. Can they all manage to make the wedding a day to remember—or will it be memorable for all the wrong reasons?

Grammy Award–winning gospel singer, television star, and radio host Erica Campbell speaks to women of all shapes and sizes and “takes the time to dissect and reveal the beauty that exists in being our authentic, vulnerable selves” (Sarah Jakes Roberts, author of Don’t Settle for Safe) and celebrating the person God made you to be. There is nothing wrong with wanting to be pretty. But Erica Campbell believes we were made to be so much more. As so many women struggle with issues of low self-esteem, depression, and unhealthy habits, Campbell offers a spiritual path that cuts through the highly commercialized, hypersexualized media messages of popular culture, leading women to the true meaning of “pretty” and the true self God wants them to be: empowered, confident, loving, and real. Erica uses her own personal and professional triumphs and failures and the stories of others to help motivate women to redefine and develop true beauty based on biblical principles. With inspirational prose, she shows us how to overcome childhood struggles, push past fears, sharpen our spiritual IQ, and free ourselves from guilt, shame, and low self-confidence. More Than Pretty is a stirring call to action for all women to a life full of power and purpose.

No one can take the place of a sister. She is the only one who has shared your past and who be there for your future. She knows your dreams and goals, and she's the first one to celebrate your joys and help you through your sorrows. She is a confidante, an advisor, and a companion in whatever life brings your way. This inspiring Blue Mountain Arts collection captures all the thoughts and feelings that go along with having a sister - the ever-present smiles and laughter, the understanding and encouragement, and above all, the love. It is a book that any sister would be proud to receive and a perfect way to let a special sister know that she's more than family she's a friend for life.