Family Culture

Pink and pretty or predatory and hardened, sexualized girlhood influences our daughters from infancy onward, telling them that how a girl looks matters more than who she is. Somewhere between the exhilarating rise of Girl Power in the 1990s and today, the pursuit of physical perfection has been recast as a source - the source - of female empowerment. And commercialization has spread the message faster and farther, reaching girls at ever-younger ages.

An impeccable ear for language, an eye for the smallest shifts in the cultural landscape, and a preternatural understanding of motivation and behavior, Ann Beattie's renowned storytelling abilities are on dazzling display in The Doctor's House. The novel opens with Nina's account of her brother's sexual appetites and betrayals, and leads into her mother's narrative.

Bick Kidd and his globe-trotting siblings Beck, Storm and Tommy may have completed their first treasure hunt after their father was lost at sea, but their kidnapped mother is still in the hands of nasty pirates. Their search for a rescue plan takes them down the Nile river in Africa, where they'll have to navigate everything from Egyptian pyramids in the desert to wet-and-wild jungles—not to mention life-threatening encounters with wilderness diseases, angry hippos and some seriously bad guys—in order to find the treasure and save the day.

Frances and Ginger Park, authors of both children's books and young adult novels, based this inspiring and deeply affecting tale on their own mother's childhood. Winner of the International Reading Association Award, My Freedom Trip features a courageous girl named Soo who makes a desperate bid for freedom by journeying from North Korea to South Korea. Her father awaits across the border, but to achieve her new life, Soo must leave her mother behind.

★★★MOST ANTICIPATED SEQUEL TO ELEVEN RULES***♥♥♥ Sunny works three jobs in Samoa, just to pay the bills. The release of the diet pill explodes, and the world can’t get enough of the ‘eat without consequence’ product. One man, Laurence Williams, sees the writing on the wall, but his predictions are regarded as doomsday conspiracies. He wants the world to know the danger to come, but more than that, he wants Sunny to give up pining for a man she can never have and let him love her. Sunny can’t get closure until she has all the answers. Mataio isn’t talking. Why? Laurence...

Cece Rios and her friends have escaped Devil’s Alley, but the fight to save their world is just beginning. Despite her growing comfort with her curandera abilities, Cece is worried that she won’t be strong enough to stop her most dangerous enemy yet: her tía, Catrina. Desperate for power and revenge, Catrina has seized the throne of Devil’s Alley and set her sights on the living world.

Christians have always wrestled with how they should respond to the cultures around them. On the one hand, we recognize the goodness of God’s creation and his common grace upon all people. On the other hand, we recognize that people are sinful and that the world is hostile to God and to Christians. So what are we to do? As tensions rise between church and state, some of the loudest voices articulating answers to the question do not match what Scripture commands for the church today. Some answers threatens to undermine the pilgrim character of New Testament Christianity and the spiritual ...

The deep and enduring friendship between Vincent and Theo Van Gogh defined both brothers' lives. As a confidant, champion, sympathizer, and friend, Theo financially and emotionally supported his older brother as the artistic but troubled Vincent struggled to find his path in life as both a painter and a man. Throughout that struggle, the brothers shared everything - swapping stories of lovers and friends, successes and disappointments, dreams and ambitions.

Henry, Jessie, Violet, and Benny chart a course for China to return the Reddimus Society's fourth artifact! Along the way they meet old friends and make new ones, but a thief threatens to ruin their trip. Then, after an unexpected stop in Thailand, they meet a suspicious man claiming to work for the Reddimus Society. The Aldens wonder if someone close to them is working for the other side. Who can the Boxcar Children trust to help them?

Night Jasmine Tree, a Somerset award-winning contemporary novel, describes the hidden backstory of an Indian man’s immigration to the U.S. The high caste protagonist fell in love with a lower caste girl in college, but she was rejected by his very conservative family. They married, but deep emotional wounds continued to torment him even after they were well settled in the U.S. The past cannot be willed away. Later, the arresting stories of his childhood and youth he innocently tells his American grandchildren, reveal the silent torment and struggles that originated in India. These ...

The young listeners' edition of the true story that inspired Lion, the major motion picture starring Dev Patel, David Wenham, Rooney Mara, and Nicole Kidman.

"The Psychology of Bluey" delves into the vibrant world of the beloved Australian animated series, exploring the intricate layers of emotional intelligence, family dynamics, and societal values woven into its storytelling. With each episode, Bluey and her family embark on adventures that are not just playful escapades but lessons in resilience, empathy, and the complexities of human emotions. This book offers an in-depth analysis of how the series impacts both young minds and adult viewers, making profound observations on parenting, childhood development, and the power of imaginative play.

A young boy takes a plane ride with his mother to visit the African country of Ghana, where his parents are from. This will be his first time seeing his grandparents. He learns about traditional Ghanaian clothing, foods, and the city market in Accra, Ghana's capital.

Americans are living through a social crisis. Our politics is polarized and bitterly divided. Culture wars rage on campus, in the media, social media, and other arenas of our common life. And for too many Americans, alienation can descend into despair, weakening families and communities and even driving an explosion of opioid abuse. Left and right alike have responded with populist anger at our institutions, and use only metaphors of destruction to describe the path forward: cleaning house, draining swamps. But, as Yuval Levin argues, this is a misguided prescription.

While sitting at a restaurant with two of my fellow authors, one asked me about my Sicilian background. I laughed and said, “All I know is, we always have sauce on Sunday.” My friends joined in the laughter, but I realized that I didn’t really know too much about the maternal part of my heritage. Something awoke inside of me and I had the desire to find out exactly from where I came. I began the quest for my roots by taking an ancestry DNA test. Within a few months, I had the surprise of my life. I discovered that my grandfather had a second sister, whom he left behind in Sicily. Who ...

Ayesha Shetty lost her brother seven years ago, the same time she lost everything else important to her: her dreams, her fierce independence, and the man she loved. Not wanting to see her mother hurt anymore, she put her wild self away and became the dutiful daughter her mother needed and took on her brother’s role in the family business. Now her best friend’s big, fat Indian wedding is a chance to get away from her endless duties at the restaurant and maybe even have some fun (if she remembers how).

As the children tour the famed Sydney Opera House, their next puzzle - and its key - falls right into their laps. They need to find the rightful owner of a rare Australian coin. Using their knowledge about Australia, the Aldens find the coin's owner, but a saboteur is again hot on their heels and nearly spoils their hard work. Next up, the Aldens travel to frigid Antarctica, where they need to return an artifact to the hut Shackleton used on his expeditions to the South Pole.

Love alone isn’t enough to overcome some obstacles. Lena Kauffman is a young Old Order Amish schoolteacher who has dealt all her life with attention raised by a noticeable birthmark on her cheek. Having learned to move past the stares and whispers, Lena channels her zest for living into her love of teaching. But tensions mount as she is challenged to work with a rebellious young man and deal with several crises at the schoolhouse that threaten her other students.

When you have an all women gym. no men allowed at all, in one of the high class classy parts of town where most of the clientele are high paid hookers or have something to do with the sex trade as well as corporate women climbing the ladder to the top, anything goes. Only one serious rule: 'What happens in the gym and what is said in the gym stays in the gym', so for them the gym is a safe place to meet people and to say what you think about your clients or customers. And when a vampire that calls the gym her home and the highest paid hooker in the district clash in the shower then their ...

It’s 1989 in New York City. Reza is an Iranian boy who has just moved to the city with his mother to live with his stepfather and stepbrother. He’s terrified that someone will guess the truth he can barely acknowledge about himself. Reza knows he’s gay, but all he knows of gay life are the media’s images of men dying of AIDS. Judy is an aspiring fashion designer who worships her uncle Stephen, a gay man with AIDS who devotes his time to activism as a member of ACT UP. Art is Judy’s best friend, their school’s only out and proud teen.