Elephant In The Sky

Based on a true story, the tale of a nine-year-old with mental illness, and a mother who strives to find balance between her work and family.

[tagline] The stigma of mental illness and the power of a motherÕs love come together in this achingly honest novel Widely acclaimed for her ability to tell emotionally powerful stories that capture the real lives of women, bestselling novelist Heather A. Clark tackles the subject of childhood mental disorders. Elephant in the Sky is told from both nine-year-old NateÕs point of view and that of his mother, Ashley, an overworked ad executive who struggles with a demanding workload and the worry that sheÕs not spending enough time with her family Ñ especially as her sonÕs battle with mental unbalance and paranoid delusions escalates. The two narratives converge in a deeply moving tale of a family dealing with mental illness. Elephant in the Sky is a story about unconditional love, and it articulates a complicated, real-life subject with grace, wisdom, and sensitivity. It looks at what it means to be different in our society and beautifully explores the distance a mother will go to protect her child.

"Thirtysomething Nicky Fowler has it all-- a rewarding career, a loving husband and the perfect home. But when she and her husband suffer a complicated tragedy, the strain of two people dealing with an impossible situation in different ways breaks up their marriage. Emotionally lost, Nicky travels to Kenya to volunteer at an orphanage. Amidst the violence and abject poverty, Nicky discovers the one thing that keeps Kenyans moving forward: hope. Over steaming mugs of chai, the country's signature drink, Nicky opens up to her host mother, Mama Bu, and finds understanding, love and strength. And with that strength, Nicky realizes what she needs to do to save the endangered children she's grown to love. Based on a true story" -- p. [4] of cover.

A Washington Post KidsPost Summer Book Club Read Twelve-year-old Ruby Moon Hayes does not want her new classmates to ask about her father. She does not want them to know her mother has been arrested. And she definitely does not want to make any friends. Ruby just wants to stay as silent and invisible as a new moon in the frozen sky. She and her mother won’t be staying long in Vermont anyway, and then things can go back to the way they were before everything went wrong. But keeping to herself isn’t easy when Ahmad Saleem, a Syrian refugee, decides he’s her new best friend. Or when she meets “the Bird Lady,” a recluse named Abigail who lives in a ramshackle shed near Ruby’s house. Before long Ahmad and Abigail have become Ruby’s friends—and she realizes there is more to their stories than everyone knows. As ugly rumors begin to swirl around the people Ruby loves, she must make a choice: break her silence, or risk losing everything that’s come to mean so much to her. Ruby in the Sky is a story of the walls we hide behind, and the magic that can happen when we’re brave enough to break free.

Elephants are among the earths most sentient beings. They remember, they experience grief and joy, fear and love. Indeed, as our knowledge of these extraordinary creatures increases, the more they transcend all preconceptions of animal behavior. Michael Nick Nichols, longtime photographer for National Geographic as well as the magazines editor-at-large for photography, has been working with African elephants for more than twenty years. In Earth to Sky he tells their story through poignant images that bring us directly into their habitatslush forests and open savannas, or stark landscapes ravaged by human interventionto observe the animals daily engagements and activities. Nicholss photographs are accompanied here by the words of such celebrated figures in the field of conservation as Iain Douglas-Hamilton, J. Michael Fay, Peter Matthiessen, Cynthia Moss, David Quammen, and many others. In addition, Nichols engages us in his photographic journey with personal and informative introductions to each of the books four chaptersexploring life in the wild, the ivory trade, family interactions, and programs for orphaned elephants. The survival of elephants is under dire threat from humankind, most immediately from the market for ivory. More than twenty-five thousand elephants are slaughtered each year, and their ivory is sold at astronomically high prices to countries such as China, Japan, the Philippines, and Singapore. African elephant refuges are under siege; many park rangers have been murdered in the fray. The misuse of elephants ivory as a commodity has to stopbut, as Nichols makes clear, the issue must be addressed with a full and empathetic understanding of the poverty and corruption that persist in the countries where elephants roam. In Earth to Sky Nichols demonstrates that the world needs elephants, and insists that we do all we can to protect their spaces and their lives. Sadly, most signs point to a tragic conclusion for these wise and emotionally complex creatures. This book is an urgent call for us to bring that process to a halt, while we still can.

From the New York Times bestselling author of Counting by 7s comes a heartfelt story about "the importance of compassion and bravery when facing life’s challenges” (Kirkus) for fans of The One and Only Ivan and Front Desk. It's been almost a year since Sila's mother traveled halfway around the world to Turkey, hoping to secure the immigration paperwork that would allow her to return to her family in the United States. The long separation is almost impossible for Sila to withstand. But things change when Sila accompanies her father (who is a mechanic) outside their Oregon town to fix a truck. There, behind an enormous stone wall, she meets a grandfatherly man who only months before won the state lottery. Their new alliance leads to the rescue of a circus elephant named Veda, and then to a friendship with an unusual boy named Mateo, proving that comfort and hope come in the most unlikely of places. A moving story of family separation and the importance of the connection between animals and humans, this novel has the enormous heart and uplifting humor that readers have come to expect from the beloved author of Counting by 7s. “I couldn’t stop reading—I had to find out what would happen. An unusual and lovely real-life fairy tale.” —Linda Sue Park, New York Times Bestselling author of A Long Walk to Water “A gorgeous and emotional novel. I loved every page.” —Cynthia Kadohata, Newbery Medal-winning author of Kira-Kira

Inspired by the real life experiences of a Sudanese boy, follows Jacob Akech Deng's journey as he flees his home under the threat of war, and, guided by the memory of his mother, tries to survive in a refugee camp.

When 14-year-old Nick is sent to his father in Burma to escape the 1941 bombings in London, he finds himself in even more danger as Japanese soldiers arrive and take control of the plantation house.