Family Life Science

In West of the Moon, award-winning and New York Times bestselling author Margi Preus expertly weaves original fiction with myth and folktale to tell the story of Astri, a young Norwegian girl desperate to join her father in America. After being separated from her sister and sold to a cruel goat farmer, Astri makes a daring escape. She quickly retrieves her little sister, and, armed with a troll treasure, a book of spells and curses, and a possibly magic hairbrush, they set off for America.

It's been almost a year since Jenna Samuels' stoner brother, Casey, bit the dust and returned as her guardian angel; a year since Casey and his "angel boss", Amber Velasco, saved Jenna's life and helped her foil the bad guys, more or less; a year in which Jenna has solved the true mystery of the universe: how to get one Ryan Sloboda to ask her out.

Sapien is a relic of a bygone age, searching for meaning in a world where his outdated allegiances to a time long past have left him isolated and hopeless. Seeking peace and quiet, he retires to a beach house at Barren Cove, a stately Victorian manor even more antiquated than he. He becomes increasingly fascinated with the family whose lives are entwined with the home - angry and rebellious Clark; flamboyant Kent; fragile, beautiful Mary; and, most of all, Beachstone, the mysterious man whose history may hold all the answers Sapien has been searching for.

Every parent has pondered "nature vs. nurture" questions. How much of my child's personality and behavior is inborn? How much is learned? This important book, written by behavioral scientists who are also mothers, has answers. This book offers the best parenting practices to foster resilience by encouraging children's social-emotional development and adaptive stress-regulation strategies. The authors translate scientific research into concrete, actionable tips and recommendations to help promote the emotional wellbeing of both child and parent.

Famed inventor Henry "Hank" Witherspoon has gone missing, and it's up to Jack and his brilliant siblings, Ava and Matt, to find him. At Hank's ransacked lab, the siblings discover clues to the project he's been working on - a new way to generate and store electricity, inspired by the electric eels of the Amazon.

Dr. Mick Strong has bought himself something unusual for his seventy-fifth birthday: a LifeTime projection. This new tech crunches data including your medical history, diet, and lifestyle to predict how much—or little—time you’ve got left. That’s all well and good, but he’s also bought them for his daughter, his grandchildren, and even his eleven-year-old great-grandson. He wants them each to wait until their next birthday to use the app. But whether they scoff at it, sneak an early look, desperately turn into a health nut, or die before their appointed time, the gift is wreaking havoc.

Rieden Reece feels angry all the time. Dealing with a typical thirteen-year-old life is bad enough, but the troubled boy navigates school bullies, a divorced mom he needs to protect, and an absent dad. But when one night his bedroom shakes violently, he peers out his window and watches in stunned disbelief as the moon up above breaks apart. Alarmed when a shadowy figure climbs out of the cracked orb, Rieden is shocked when the quirky alien reveals he’s been sent from the future to help him find something mission-critical.

As the alien Authority’s invasion begins, mankind stands on the brink of annihilation. Cassius Stevenson and his brother Jesse Fisher - descendants of the planet Haven’s resistance forces - must forge alliances with the embittered factions on Earth to defend against the brutal attack. But the Authority has only begun to fight. When their terrible new weapon sends Earth’s fragile coalition into turmoil, humanity’s last chance at survival lies in the hands of the two brothers, whose fates are linked more closely than they ever imagined.

In a small Southern town, two teenagers find themselves falling into a once-in-a-lifetime love affair, while the people around them watch with hope or despair. Flora Jean is a young Black girl who daydreams of leaving the segregated caste system of Mississippi far behind her. She's being raised by her single mother, Lily, a no-nonsense woman who is willing to do whatever is necessary to raise her daughter to be smart and independent. Bobby Jr. is the oldest son of the richest family in the region. He has learned at an early age that money does not buy happiness, nor does it guarantee love.

All her life Barrie Watson has been a virtual prisoner in the house where she lived with her shut-in mother. When her mother dies, Barrie promises to put some mileage on her stiletto heels. But she finds a new kind of prison at her aunt's South Carolina plantation instead - a prison guarded by an ancient spirit who long ago cursed one of the three founding families of Watson Island and gave the others magical gifts that became compulsions.

Charlie O’Reilly is an only child. Which is why it makes everyone uncomfortable when he talks about his brother. Liam. His eight-year-old kid brother, who, up until a year ago, slept in the bunk above Charlie, took pride in being as annoying as possible, and was the only person who could make Charlie laugh until it hurt. Then came the morning when the bunk, and Liam, disappeared forever. No one even remembers him - not Charlie’s mother, who has been lost in her own troubles; and not Charlie’s father, who is gone frequently on business trips.

Alistair Cleary is the kid who everyone trusts. Fiona Loomis is "not" the typical girl next door. Alistair hasn't really thought of her since they were little kids until she shows up at his doorstep with a proposition: she wants him to write her biography. What begins as an odd vanity project gradually turns into a frightening glimpse into the mind of a potentially troubled girl. Fiona says that in her basement, there's a portal that leads to a magical world where a creature called the Riverman is stealing the souls of children.

When Kyan finds a battered old racing-car game in the loft, he doesn't believe the big claims written on the box. I mean, what kind of 'Infinite Race' only has seven pieces of track? So it comes as a shock when the game really does take him on the journey of a lifetime – through multiple universes! Whether he’s a space pilot on the trail of underwater aliens or an unwitting robber in a stolen police car, every adventure is more thrilling than the last. When he lands in a universe as a stunt driver racing for a million-pound prize, he thinks he’s found the way to save his family and their home.

The Wang family is hiding a secret—they all have the ability to time travel. When parents Joshua and Lily depart for the past and never return, their children Tommy and Eva are forced to deal with their grief alone. Eva tries to find her place in the present, while Tommy is pulled further and further into a past that he hopes holds the truth. When he falls in love with a woman from 1930s London Chinatown, his inability to confront his own history has serious ramifications for the people who can truly bring him happiness.

Many fantasize about dramatically changing their lives - living in accordance with their ideals rather than the exigencies of job, bills, and possessions. William Powers actually does it. Here, his family, with baby in tow, searches for balance, community, and happiness in a small town in Bolivia. They build an adobe house, plant a prolific orchard and organic garden, and weave their life into a community of permaculturists, bio-builders, artists, and creative businesspeople. Can this Transition Town succeed in the face of encroaching North American capitalism?

"En el examen de la vida, no todos tienen las mismas preguntas. Aunque las preguntas son las mismas, las respuestas no son las mismas. Cada vida es única. Pero, hay una cosa común en todas las vidas. Nadie está completamente feliz. La historia actual es un ejemplo de eso."

My mother-in-law, Diane Newby, zombified by accident. She still volunteers at her church bake sales and cooks pot roast for her daughter and son-in-law, Ron Yardley. What ticks her off is when people don't treat her like a normal human being - with glowing red eyes and super strength and speed. And if she doesn't get her own way, look out. She explodes and leaves broken plaster and body parts in her wake. Nothing stops her: not brick walls, the federal government, or middle-aged spread.

An incredible animal adventure series for fans of Narnia and Wolves of the Beyond! A few weeks ago, Spencer Plain had never been to Bearhaven. He was rebuilding a computer and eating peanut butter toast and going to school. Normal human things. But now his parents are missing, he's living with a family of bears and learning how to speak Ragayo (the bears' language), and he has already been on a rescue mission that saved two cubs and their mother.

In a future Australia ravaged by climate change, twins Ashleigh and Aiden Delatour have always promised to protect and be there for each other, no matter what. Their privileged upbringing and loving, wealthy parents leave them with little to worry about. But when Aiden is seriously injured during a school trip, the twins' entire world begins to unravel. Back home from the hospital, something about Aiden seems different and Ashleigh's quest to find out why will uncover dark truths about the world they thought they knew.

Hazel’s new life in England should have been the stuff of fairy tales; after all her great aunt’s cottage looked just like a gingerbread house, with a magical garden and whispering fireflies promising quests and adventures. But as Hazel struggles to deal with the challenges of the everyday world—making friends, missing her family—she also learns that every fairy tale has a dark side. And there are terrifying creatures that lurk in the shadows....