My Invisible World

Reader Views Kids Award for Best Children's Book of the Year 2010 and Mom's Choice Gold Award Outstanding Young Contributor This is not your usual boy-meets-dog, boy-loves-dog, dog-helps-boy story. But then Morasha Winokur is not your usual eleven-year-old sister. "My Invisible World" cleverly exposes a hidden, completely preventable, public health crisis that impacts each of us. Up to 1 out of 100 live births are affected by prenatal alcohol exposure and it is the leading known preventable cause of intellectual disability. Fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASDs) are life-long birth defects. An individual may live with neurological, emotional, cognitive, and behavioral challenges. FASDs may be the most undiagnosed/misdiagnosed developmental disability of our time. Eleven-year-old Morasha shares her in-depth and personal life story of what it feels like to be the sister of a sibling that struggles with FASDs. "My Invisible World" is an incredible inside account of the daily issues that arise for a child that deals with an invisible brain injury. Winokur, describes her brother's disability with tween-humor and addresses her struggles in knowing she is mentally and physically healthy while her brother has special needs beyond her ability to fix. Morasha and her brother Iyal are non-biological siblings who were adopted by a loving couple and traveled from Russia to their new family's home in Georgia. Young Morasha shows her commitment to her brother's disability by sharing her inner-most thoughts in an effort to raise awareness in her peers so they too can understand the importance of not drinking while pregnant. As the "typical" sister, Winokur wrestles with the angst of whether or not it is better to remain translucent in her existence, or whether she should embrace the visibility that having a service dog in the family creates. Not only is an eleven year old boy's hidden disability validated by Chancer, a service dog - but the effort it takes for an entire family to support this person becomes perceptible. The unconditional presence and specifically trained skills of an irresistible 90 pound Golden Retriever help to heal not only Winokur's brother, but each member of the family in unexpected ways. "Whether you are learning to cope with a disability in your own family, or simply interested in reading a great book that shows immeasurable strength and courage, this is a must read! - Melissa Lacquement' An honest and sensitive assessment of life for the sibling of a special needs child. Eleven year-old Morasha puts into words the burdens faced growing up with a brother affected by Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD). The reader learns how the whole family embraces the challenges of living with an FASD child and finds support in a specially trained service dog, named Chancer. This book provides insight, and is an appropriate read, for any parent or sibling of a of special needs child - not limited to only FASD affected families. - J Michael Williams This is a great book to share with others, especially children. This book should be in every elementary and middle school library in the county. Morasha tells it like it is! - J Liebman Heartfelt voice of a young sister's love and her own internal struggle of acceptance with her sibling's disability. Wonderful read for inspiring authors, siblings and parents. Wish elementary schools would use this book for their student's curriculum and writer's workshops. There are so many lessons embedded in this 11 year old Morasha's story: embracing diversity, empathy, self-acceptance, siblings, growing up, being an agent of change, and the importance of prevention. My son read it to me as his homework, but the lessons have only begun to start to take root. - Gailynn Gluth

Suzanne Weyn brings her trademark mix of history, romance, and the supernatural to the Salem Witch Trials.Elsabeth James has powers she doesn't fully understand. She is descended from midwives, mind readers, and a fortune-teller who was put to death because she foresaw the death of Mary, Queen of Scots. She can hear people's thoughts and sometimes see what they see. She has supernatural gifts, but not evil ones. When Elsabeth sails with her sister, father, and governess to America, however, she does not foresee that their ship will be wrecked in a storm. Alone for the first time in her life, she washes up on a South Carolina plantation, where she falls in love with a boy she meets there and learns magic and healing from an unexpected source. As her powers grow, her stay is cut short, and she is sent as a servant to Salem, Massachusetts. There she accidentally allows an evil spirit to enter the village. When a group of girls start to say they're bewitched and accuse villagers of witchcraft, Elsabeth must find some way to save herself and the boy she loves.

The author of A Travel Guide to Heaven draws on scripturally sound teachings to explain how readers can connect with the spiritual dimension surrounding everyday life in order to achieve profound inner peace.

From the author of the internationally acclaimed The Harmony Silk Factory comes an enthralling novel that evokes an exotic yet turbulent place and time—1960s Indonesia during President Sukarno’s drive to purge the country of its colonial past. A page-turning story, Map of the Invisible World follows the journeys of two brothers and an American woman who are indelibly marked by the past—and swept up in the tides of history.

STONEWALL HONOR BOOK • For fans of Patrick Ness and Tom McNeal comes a moving and page-turning novel that’s part ghost story, part love story. The lines between past and present, tales and truth, friends and lovers begin to blur when a boy's childhood friend returns to town. Aidan Lockwood lives in a sleepy farming community known for its cattle ranches and not much else. That is, until Jarrod, a friend he hasn’t seen in years, moves back to town. It’s Jarrod who opens Aidan’s eyes to events he’s long since forgotten, and who awakes in him feelings that go beyond mere friendship. But as Aidan’s memories return, so do some unsettling truths about his family. As Aidan begins to probe into long-buried secrets, he may not be able to control what else is uncovered. Aidan will need to confront a family curse before he can lay claim to his life once more. “Brilliant storytelling that unearths new intersections of love and magic.” —New York Times bestselling author Scott Westerfeld

In the tradition of SIDDHARTHA by Hermann Hesse comes a new spiritual novel that is a stunning feat of storytelling and imagination. A Poet of the Invisible World follows a boy named Nouri, born in thirteenth-century Persia, with four ears instead of two. Orphaned as an infant, he's taken into a Sufi order, where he meets an assortment of dervishes and is placed upon a path toward spiritual awakening. As he stumbles from one painful experience to the next, he grows into manhood. Each trial he endures shatters another obstacle within--and leads Nouri on toward transcendence.

“Sutton’s large-scale illustrations help children to visualize microorganisms and processes that are too small to see. . . . A handsome and rewarding picture book.” — Booklist (starred review) All around the world—in the sea, in the soil, in the air, and in your body—there are living things so tiny that millions could fit on an ant’s antenna. They’re busy doing all sorts of things, from giving you a cold and making yogurt to eroding mountains and helping to make the air we breathe.