Blind Pony As True A Story As I Can Tell

Growing up on a farm in rural Pennsylvania without boundaries may seem like a childhood idyll. But for Pam Butter, it was a twisted vision of pastoral family life part Faulkner part Dante. At fourteen years old, her desire to flee the abuse she suffered at the hands of her grandfather, she sought out her father, a man she only knew as Wild Bill. Upon realizing he wasn't the hero she'd hoped he'd be, she was on her own, trying to find normalcy in a life that seemed absurdly turned upside down.When Pam arrived in Los Angeles in the mid-70's, she could accurately be described as having nothing to lose. This was the peak of LA's decadence where money and drugs and good times flowed, but where young women were often seen as prey.Ultimately, she would find her calling in the entertainment industry and hold numerous high profile positions as a film executive. But survival was the only thing on her mind as she floated through a strange new world of champagne soaked parties, sexual adventures gone awry and much more.Imbued with candid and emotional self-revelations, Blind Pony is heartbreaking and somber, delightful and full of wisdom, joy, grit and grace. This is a personal memoir about the unlimited possibilities of the human spirit to survive and how hope can grow even in the darkest of places.

Hope is hard to come by in the hard-luck town of Willow Creek. Sam Pickett and five young men are about to change that. Sam Pickett never expected to settle in this dried-up shell of a town on the western edge of the world. He's come here to hide from the violence and madness that have shattered his life, but what he finds is what he least expects. There's a spirit that endures in Willow Creek, Montana. It seems that every inhabitant of this forgotten outpost has a story, a reason for taking a detour to this place--or a reason for staying. As the coach of the hapless high school basketball team (zero wins, ninety-three losses), Sam can't help but be moved by the bravery he witnesses in the everyday lives of people--including his own young players--bearing their sorrows and broken dreams. How do they carry on, believing in a future that seems to be based on the flimsiest of promises? Drawing on the strength of the boys on the team, sharing the hope they display despite insurmountable odds, Sam finally begins to see a future worth living. Author Stanley Gordon West has filled the town of Willow Creek with characters so vividly cast that they become real as relatives, and their stories--so full of humor and passion, loss and determination--illuminate a path into the human heart.

When horse thieves observe that a dog that is the constant companion of their newly acquired spotted pony is actually the animal's Seeing-Eye dog, they turn them both loose in the Badlands.

The Pony Pals are faced with the challenge of helping a friend deal with her pony going blind. They each learn a lesson about taking care of a pony and the importance of telling the truth.

Little Squire was born in an Irish meadow on an early spring day. The colt was beautifully formed with strong, straight legs and a pretty head. But due to his small size, it was unlikely he would be more than a nice child’s riding pony. By the following spring, the yearling was separated from his mother and turned out to pasture with the other weanlings. Little Squire wasn’t happy to be away from his dam so he charged the high stone wall and cleared it easily. Little Squire had just shown an astonishing side of himself that would eventually bring him greatness. Over time, the young horse traded hands, crossed an ocean, and ended up on the American show-jumping circuit. That was when he met another diminutive Irish immigrant, Mickey Walsh. The two were inseparable until, at Mickey’s request, Little Squire was retired at the top of his game, and while he was still sound. He went out in a blaze of glory, though, ending his last performance with Mickey by jumping a six-foot-two fence — rider-less — in front of a packed arena. During the war-torn 30s, Little Squire had given people something to cheer about.

Animals abound in Dr. Seuss’s Caldecott Honor–winning picture book If I Ran the Zoo. Gerald McGrew imagines the myriad of animals he’d have in his very own zoo, and the adventures he’ll have to go on in order to gather them all. Featuring everything from a lion with ten feet to a Fizza-ma-Wizza-ma-Dill, this is a classic Seussian crowd-pleaser. In fact, one of Gerald’s creatures has even become a part of the language: the Nerd!

The bestselling authors of the classic Difficult Conversations teach us how to turn evaluations, advice, criticisms, and coaching into productive listening and learning We swim in an ocean of feedback. Bosses, colleagues, customers—but also family, friends, and in-laws—they all have “suggestions” for our performance, parenting, or appearance. We know that feedback is essential for healthy relationships and professional development—but we dread it and often dismiss it. That’s because receiving feedback sits at the junction of two conflicting human desires. We do want to learn and grow. And we also want to be accepted just as we are right now. Thanks for the Feedback is the first book to address this tension head on. It explains why getting feedback is so crucial yet so challenging, and offers a powerful framework to help us take on life’s blizzard of off-hand comments, annual evaluations, and unsolicited advice with curiosity and grace. The business world spends billions of dollars and millions of hours each year teaching people how to give feedback more effectively. Stone and Heen argue that we’ve got it backwards and show us why the smart money is on educating receivers— in the workplace and in personal relationships as well. Coauthors of the international bestseller Difficult Conversations, Stone and Heen have spent the last ten years working with businesses, nonprofits, governments, and families to determine what helps us learn and what gets in our way. With humor and clarity, they blend the latest insights from neuroscience and psychology with practical, hard-headed advice. The book is destined to become a classic in the world of leadership, organizational behavior, and education.

From the author of the New York Times bestselling novels The Handmaid’s Tale—now an Emmy Award-winning Hulu original series—and Alias Grace, now a Netflix original series. Joan Foster is the bored wife of a myopic ban-the-bomber. She takes off overnight as Canada's new superpoet, pens lurid gothics on the sly, attracts a blackmailing reporter, skids cheerfully in and out of menacing plots, hair-raising traps, and passionate trysts, and lands dead and well in Terremoto, Italy. In this remarkable, poetic, and magical novel, Margaret Atwood proves yet again why she is considered to be one of the most important and accomplished writers of our time.