Back to Blog
Founding brothers author7/6/2023 ![]() ![]() captures the passion the founders brought to the revolutionary project. leaves the reader with a visceral sense of a formative era in American life.” - The New York Times enduring achievement.” - The Boston Globe Ellis has established himself as the Founders’ historian for our time.” -Gordon S. “ Founding Brothers is a wonderful book, one of the best. ![]() Through an analysis of six fascinating episodes-Hamilton and Burr’s deadly duel, Washington’s precedent-setting Farewell Address, Adams’ administration and political partnership with his wife, the debate about where to place the capital, Franklin’s attempt to force Congress to confront the issue of slavery and Madison’s attempts to block him, and Jefferson and Adams’ famous correspondence- Founding Brothers brings to life the vital issues and personalities from the most important decade in our nation’s history. ![]() ![]() During the decade that followed, the Founding Fathers-re-examined here as Founding Brothers-combined the ideals of the Declaration of Independence with the content of the Constitution to create the practical workings of our government. The United States was more a fragile hope than a reality in 1790. “A splendid book-humane, learned, written with flair and radiant with a calm intelligence and wit.” - The New York Times Book Review A landmark work of history explores how a group of greatly gifted but deeply flawed individuals-Hamilton, Burr, Jefferson, Franklin, Washington, Adams, and Madison-confronted the overwhelming challenges before them to set the course for our nation. ![]()
0 Comments
Read More
Back to Blog
![]() ![]() Consider inviting students to write their own occasional poems, or compare and contrast Gorman’s poem with other inaugural poems through history. Then, use the examples of poetic devices below to guide a discussion about how Gorman uses poetic devices to engage her audience and develop themes in her work. Start your lesson by watching Gorman perform her poem. Teaching Poetic Devices Using Amanda Gorman’s “The Hill We Climb” ![]() This puts additional pressure on the aural elements-rhyme, consonance, assonance, repetition, anaphora-that can separate poetry from other forms of literature. Inaugural poems are also unique in that, unlike a poem that is printed in a magazine, collection, or anthology, they are a predominantly auditory experience. With elements such as speaker, audience, tone, and theme made so concrete and socially relevant, students are better able to analyze how poetic devices within the poem create engagement and meaning. As an occasional poem, the work was written and recited to honor a specific event, the swearing in of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris as president and vice president of the United States. Studying “The Hill We Climb” offers students a unique opportunity to access poetry. The youngest inaugural poet in United States history, Gorman wanted her poem “The Hill We Climb” to “envision a way in which our country can still come together and can still heal” without “erasing or neglecting the harsh truths . . . America needs to reconcile with.” ![]() On January 20, 2021, Amanda Gorman faced a unique challenge. ![]()
Back to Blog
Lair james herbert7/6/2023 ![]() ![]() “Children are our most valuable resource.” – Herbert Hoover.“A child is a beam of sunlight from the Infinite and Eternal, with possibilities of virtue and vice, but as yet unstained.” – Lyman Abbott.“Children are not things to be molded, but are people to be unfolded.” – Jess Lair.The following encouraging quotes for kids aren’t just great advice, they also look great on the dedication page of a personalized story book. Honor you kids with these special children’s quotes they will cherish from kids to adults. As your kids grow up, they will know start to understand all the things you did for them as parents and adults were to help them grow into the best adult possible. ![]() As you honor your kids with these meaningful quotes, include a personalized gifts for kids they could be thankful for along side your meaningful messages. ![]()
Back to Blog
The taking of jake livingston genre7/6/2023 ![]() ![]() Now he's a powerful, vengeful ghost and he has plans for Jake. In life, Sawyer was a troubled teen who shot and killed six kids at a local high school before taking his own life. Though most ghosts are harmless and Jake is always happy to help them move on to the next place, Sawyer Doon wants much more from Jake. Unfortunately, life as a medium is getting worse. Clair start looking up with the arrival of another Black student-the handsome Allister-and for the first time, romance is on the horizon for Jake. Both are a living nightmare he wishes he could wake up from. But he can't decide what's worse: being a medium forced to watch the dead play out their last moments on a loop or being at the mercy of racist teachers as one of the few Black students at St. Sixteen-year-old Jake Livingston sees dead people everywhere. Get Out meets Holly Jackson in this YA social thriller where survival is not a guarantee. ![]()
Back to Blog
The earl takes a fancy7/6/2023 ![]() ![]() This seems unlikely to me but the other siblings also seem to be marrying into nobility, so…OK then. Ettie’s big dream is for Fancy to marry nobility. ![]() Ettie was a great mom and each of the children (now adults) is the hero or heroine of a romance in the series. It makes the bold choice (more on this later) to center around a woman named Ettie who was a baby farmer and became the adoptive mother to four children and birth mother to Fancy. This book is part of the Sins for All Seasons series. For a romance to work, I must have some attachment to both characters and want them to be together, and in this book, such is not the case. ![]() The other half of the book belongs to Matthew Sommersby, Earl of Rosemont, and tragically, he is garbage. The Earl Takes a Fancy is, at most, one half of a sort of OK book – the half that belongs to the protagonist, Fancy Trewlove. ![]()
Back to Blog
The scarlet letter penguin classics7/6/2023 ![]() ![]() In their small, Puritan village, Hester and her daughter struggle to survive, but in this searing study of the tension between private and public existence, Hester Prynne's inner strength and quiet dignity means she has frequently been seen as one of the first great heroines of American fiction. 'Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers, - stern and wild ones, - and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss'įiercely romantic and hugely influential, The Scarlet Letter is the tale of Hester Prynne, imprisoned, publicly shamed, and forced to wear a scarlet 'A' for committing adultery and bearing an illegitimate child, Pearl. Penguin Classics presents Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter, adapted for audio and available as a digital download as part of the Penguin English Library series. ![]()
Back to Blog
Genesis by Shienny M.S.7/5/2023 ![]() ![]() Other biblical writers, along with Christ Himself, do as well. ![]() Jewish and Christian tradition, usually, attributes the content to Moses. Within the book itself, the author of Genesis remains anonymous. He likely wrote the book sometime during the Israelites’ wandering period (1440-1400 BC). Scholars who attribute authorship to Moses, believe Moses wrote Genesis sometime after God used him to lead His people out of Egypt and sometime before Moses’ death in Exodus 34:5. ![]()
Back to Blog
A Man Lay Dead by Ngaio Marsh7/5/2023 ![]() He arrives at Frampton from Scotland Yard the morning after the murder. Alleyn is already a seasoned detective, with a reputation for thorough and careful sleuthing. This is not Detective Inspector Roderick Alleyn's first murder case, although it is Ngaio Marsh's first novel. Sir Hubert has his own rules for the Murder Game, and eventually a murder there is, but not the theatrically staged one they have anticipated. There will seven or eight guests, and, upon arrival, he learns that the main event will be a Murder. ![]() He has heard these houseparties hosted by Sir Hubert Handesley are both "original" and unpretentious. Nigel Bathgate, with his cousin Charles Rankin, is attending his first houseparty at Frampton. This is Ngaio Marsh's debut novel, a classic country house party murder mystery, where the reader is tempted to map the location of all of the characters at the location of the murder. ![]() Isis Publishing large print edition, 2005. ![]()
Back to Blog
Last house on the street book7/5/2023 ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Kayla’s story alternates with that of Ellie Hockley, a college student who decides to spend the summer working for the SCOPE Project, a civil rights campaign to register Black voters. A mysterious woman in disguise shows up at her office to threaten her, and Kayla learns that the property has an eerie and tragic history, including the death of a young girl many years before. However, living in the house at the end of the street turns out to be more than she bargained for when strange things start happening. Kayla opts to go ahead with the move anyway. Kayla Carter and her husband Jackson, both architects, designed and built their dream house in a brand-new development-but before they could move in with their young daughter, Jackson was killed in an accident. Also like Big Lies, Last House takes place in North Carolina, Chamberlain’s home state. Like Big Lies, the new novel alternates between past and present, giving us a look at how events decades ago continue to impact people’s lives. Diane Chamberlain’s Big Lies in a Small Town was one of my very favorite books of 2020, so I had high hopes for The Last House on the Street-and I was not disappointed. ![]()
Back to Blog
Nora roberts three sisters trilogy7/5/2023 ![]() ![]() ![]() Just as Nell starts to wonder if she'll ever be able to break free of her fear, she realizes that the island suffers under a terrible curse-one that can only be broken by the descendants of the Three Sisters, the witches who settled the island back in 1692. One careless word, one misplaced confidence, and the new life she's so carefully created could shatter completely. But there is a part of herself she can never reveal to him, for she must continue to guard her secrets if she wants to keep the past at bay. Careful to conceal her true identity, she takes a job as a cook at the local bookstore cafe-and begins to explore her feelings for the island sheriff, Zack Todd. But even in this quiet, peaceful place, Nell never feels entirely at ease. When Nell Channing arrives on charming Three Sisters Island, she believes that she's finally found refuge from her abusive husband-and from the terrifying life she fled so desperately eight months ago. ![]() All three novels from #1 bestseller Nora Roberts' Three Sisters Island Trilogy together in one collection ![]() |