I Am Special Because I Smile

Juliette Goodrich is an Emmy Award winning news anchor and reporter and children's book author. Her carrer and three children inspire her to write books about special places, events and people. Juliette was inspired to write " I am Special Because I Smile" because of her involvement in Special Olympics and Special Olympics athletes. They possess a very unique and special quality that she says everyone should try ...... THEY SMILE !!!!

Most people have heard of post-partum depression. What many people do not know is that anxiety and depression can be experienced during pregnancy, as well, and the impact can be both debilitating and devastating. This book is a unique combination of one woman’s story of her struggle with perinatal distress and actionable advice from a professional in the field. Rebecca Fox Starr shares her personal story of marriage, motherhood, prenatal anxiety and depression, severe postpartum anxiety and depression, recovery process and hope for the future. Woven throughout the narrative, Dr. Amy Wenzel, a specialist in the field of Perinatal Mood Disorders, provides readers with clinical information and advice, addressing risk factors, warning signs, definitions and recovery options. Stories from other women who experienced prenatal anxiety or depression are included as well. No longer do women have to suffer in silence, question their symptoms, or try to hide their feelings. Here, readers will see themselves in the narrative and understand that the devastating effects of prenatal and post-partum depression can be confirmed, treated, and managed, giving them hope for a brighter future.

Take advantage of the appeal and power of Caldecott award literature to extend and promote learning across the curriculum. In these three volumes the author demonstrates how to use award-winning books as springboards to science, social studies learning, and language arts in the library and classroom-and to expand student awareness and appreciation of illustration techniques. For each Caldecott title there is background information on the illustrations, curriculum connections, lesson plans, and support materials for teaching. Glandon also integrates Gardner's multiple intelligences with curriculum content. With a flexible, discovery approach, these activity units focus on student-centered, experiential, holistic, and authentic learning and they are ready for instant implementation. Targeted to primary grade objectives and abilities, the books include an array of individual projects and collaborative ones. They also foster collaborations between library media specialists and classroom teachers.

The year is 2009, and José Antonio Rodríguez, a doctoral student at Binghamton University in upstate New York, is packing his suitcase, getting ready to spend the Thanksgiving holiday with his parents in South Texas. He soon learns from his father that a drug cartel has overtaken the Mexican border village where he was born. Now, because of the violence there, he won’t be able to visit his early-childhood home. Instead, his memories will have to take him back. Thus, Rodríguez begins a meditative journey into the past. Through a series of vignettes, he mines the details of a childhood and adolescence fraught with deprivation but offset by moments of tenderness and beauty. Suddenly he is four years old again, and his mother is feeding him raw sugarcane for the first time. With the sweetness still on his tongue, he runs to a field, where he falls asleep under a glowing pink sky. The conditions of rural poverty prove too much for his family to bear, and Rodríguez moves with his mother and three of his nine siblings across the border to McAllen, Texas. Now a resident of the “other side,” Rodríguez experiences the luxury of indoor toilets and gazes at television commercials promising more food than he has ever seen. But there is no easy passage into this brighter future. Poignant and lyrical, House Built on Ashes contemplates the promises, limitations, and contradictions of the American Dream. Even as it tells a deeply personal story, it evokes larger political, cultural, and social realities. It speaks to what America is and what it is not. It speaks to a world of hunger, prejudice, and far too many boundaries. But it speaks, as well, to the redemptive power of beauty and its life-sustaining gift of hope.

Ashley, is a normal girl living her dreams. Moving to Alaska to start a new job was her fresh start in life. She wasn't to know that her life would be turned upside down and back to front. Falling in love with Dale Black, was always a dream for her. She never expected it to ever happen in this life time. All was going better than expected until a family secret stumbled out of the cupboard. But would it kill them or cure them? The couples happiness is short lived when Ashley, becomes ill but could all be well with a little help from a family member?

“You know, you look very....” He licks his lips. “Enticing.” Luc slowly looked me up and down again. “You really are going to cause me so much trouble, aren’t you?” Luc shakes his head and chuckles to himself. “Oh, enticing, huh?” I can tell I shouldn’t tease him, but it feels good to be complimented by him. “Why do you think I am going to be trouble?” He chuckles louder “Because you look like demon bait. Do you know that?” “How so?” I bat my eyes, curious about where this is going. “Well, to start with...” He stepped closer to me, reaching his hand out. He ran a finger across my clavicle, sending a shiver through my body yet again. “Your skin is the color of cream, soft and pink. You smell of amber wood, pear, and hope. Your heart is broken, and a few words would have you begging for touch. You’re human, and that means you’re valuable to us, not to mention you are adorable when you get flustered like this.” He ran his finger across my clavicle once again, and I felt my face heat up as I blushed deeper with every word that came out of his mouth. His fingers walk up to my neck slowly, and he runs then across my chin and rests his thumb on my lower lip, causing my lips to part ever so slightly. I can’t tear my eyes from his face as I watch his expressions change over and over again. One moment he is looking at me with a smoldering gaze. The next, it’s soft, then thoughtful, then alluring, and then back to sexy. I don’t think I can take this anymore. I squeeze my eyes tight and wait for what comes next. His thumb just rests there for a moment, then he brushes my lip ever so slightly, and a soft whimper escapes my lips before I realize what happened. My eyes shoot open, and I find his face just an inch or so from mine. “See what I mean, Jasmine? You are enticing.”

Princess Azmei of Tamnen has a decision to make, and she doesn’t like either option: marry Prince Vistaren of Amethir–a man she’s never met–or let her kingdom’s war with Strid go on with no end in sight. Seeing no alternative, she agrees to meet Prince Vistaren, with the caveat that the marriage treaty won’t be ratified until then. Azmei knows she is sailing into a precarious situation. After all, the correspondence she’s traded with Vistaren doesn’t guarantee he’ll be a man she can respect or love. She can’t stand the thought of seeing her generation decimated by the bloody conflict with neighboring Strid. Yet while she has sworn to serve her brother, the heir to Tamnen’s throne, Azmei isn’t certain this is the best way to do so. What Azmei doesn’t know is that her new friend, Orya, is not who she seems to be, and that Prince Vistaren has secrets of his own. And on top of that, there are those who will stop at nothing to prevent the alliance between Tamnen and Amethir… There is a storm on the horizon, and its shadow may grow to cover the whole world.

Second Edition published 2023 - professionally edited and substantially rewritten from the original. An entrepreneur's dream or a family’s nightmare. Can John develop a ground-breaking technology to break through his son’s autistic isolation, or will he break up his family in the attempt? This is the story of an ordinary man, a loving husband and father, driven to risk his home and his family’s security to create a better future for them all. The reluctant entrepreneur and his wife fall head-first into the cut-throat and unpredictable world of high-tech business and unscrupulous investors. John soon discovers that everything comes with a price as he strives to help his son. Will it cost him his marriage and family and their future together?