My Mom Is The Best Circus

This delightfully entertaining story celebrating mom as the best one-woman show on Earth! This humorous story celebrates mom as the best one-woman show on earth as she juggles everything that goes on during the day—she's a ringmaster, a wild beast tamer, a magician, and sometimes a clown. But her best stunt of all is the sandman show, when it's time for a good-night story. Luciana Navarro Powell's colorful, humorous illustrations are a perfect complement to her spirited, rhyming text.

From the author of Walking on Eggshells—a must-read for anyone blessed with or burdened by a sibling that explores the sometimes heartbreaking but always meaningful ties between brothers and sisters. There’s a myth that good sibling relations do not include conflict, annoyance, resentment, or mixed feelings. Jane Isay argues that this is a destructive belief, one that makes people doubt the strength of their connection to those they grew up with. Siblings may love and hate, fight and forgive, but they never forget their early bonds. Based on scores of interviews with people of all ages, Mom Still Likes You Best features real-life stories that show how differences caused by family feuds, marriages, distance, or ancient history can be overcome in adulthood. The result is a clear-eyed but compassionate portrait of brothers and sisters in love and war—and a celebration of the possibilities that even the most complicated sibling relationships can offer.

Amber Appleton lives in a bus. Ever since her mom's boyfriend kicked them out, Amber, her mom, and her totally loyal dog, Bobby Big Boy (aka Thrice B) have been camped out in the back of Hello Yellow (the school bus her mom drives). Still, Amber, the self-proclaimed princess of hope and girl of unyielding optimism, refuses to sweat the bad stuff. But when a fatal tragedy threatens Amber's optimism--and her way of life, can Amber continue to be the rock star of hope? With an oddball cast of characters, and a heartwarming, inspiring story, this novel unveils a beautifully beaten-up world of laughs, loyalty, and hard-earned hope. The world is Amber's stage, and Amber is, well...she's sorta like a rock star. True? True.

From the bestselling author of the generation-defining series The Baby-sitters Club comes a series for a new generation! Seeing is believingKaren loves unicorns. When she sees a poster for a circus with a "real live unicorn," she is gigundoly excited. Karen believes that unicorns can grant wishes. That is good, because Karen has some very important wishes to make. No one else in Ms. Colman’s class believes that the circus unicorn is real. But Karen does. Will her wishes come true?

When Harmony Jane Jones loses her cat, her car, her job and her boyfriend, all within the space of a week, she does what any twenty-something woman would do-she runs away and joins the circus. With finesse rather than a whip, Harmony takes charge of her life, finds a new career and possibly the man of her dreams. Excerpt: "Sorry, professional habit. Name, what's your name?" "Harmony Jane Jones." He was quiet for so long, I thought he'd hung up. "Are you shitting me?" "No, unfortunately I'm not." I silently cursed my parents for my weird name, again. "Okay, kiddo. I'll see you at one." "Wait! What's your name? How will I know you?" But already dead air filled my ear. Well, he sounded very tall, and with that deep masculine voice, probably handsome. My nerves jangled at the thought of meeting the man. I used the rest of the morning to take a bath, paint my nails a ladylike pale coral, do hair, makeup and then took an hour to pick out the perfect outfit. That posed a problem. Just what did one wear to impress the owner of a circus? Pale white make up? Big red shoes? I needed help, but all my friends were working and I hadn't yet told my mother about my temporary unemployment situation. She'd had to bail me out of too many sticky situations, so I wanted to try and find a job and save her the worry. I finally settled on a classy periwinkle Donna Karan suit I'd picked up at Nordstrom's Rack two years ago. The trolley took me to within a block of the office building and got me there fifteen minutes early. I found the place with no trouble, pulled back my shoulders, slapped a smile on my face and marched into the office. The outer lobby was empty, so I poked my head into the only open doorway. "Hello? Anyone here?" "Take a seat, I dropped my friggin' pencil. Ah, here it is." A head popped up from behind the desk, but not too far. The man's chin was even with the desktop. Bushy eyebrows squatted above eyes the color of soot. He had a fat cigar clenched in the corner of his mouth and a pencil stuck behind his ear. The cigar smelled like burning tires. My eyes started to tear and I only hoped my black mascara wouldn't run. "Well, you certainly ain't the fat lady so you must be Tranquility." With a whoosh he plopped into the swivel chair behind the desk and I realized he wasn't going to get any taller. He was a dwarf, midget, sheesh, what was the politically correct term anyhow? Oh, right, little person. Well, this was a circus, after all. "Actually it's Harmony, Harmony Jones." "Yeah, yeah, whatever." He twisted his head to look up at me. "You're a big one, ain't ya? Take a seat, sweetie and let's palaver." "I'm sorry; I didn't catch your name." "That's 'cause I didn't throw it." His cackle pounded against my eardrums. "The name's Zander." "Is Zander your last name or your first name?" "Yes." The corners of his mouth turned up in a wicked grin and he wiggled his big ears at me. I decided to ignore him and stop his fun right away. I wobbled across the room on my four-inch heels and sat in the leather chair opposite him. It made a farting noise when I landed. I hid my embarrassment by pawing through my purse and pulling out my resume. "Now, Zander, as you can see . . . ." He waved away my resume with short, stubby fingers. "Don't matter. You're a good-looking gal, seem smart enough, so if you want it, the job is yours." Alarm bells clanked in my head. This was too easy, way too easy. I opened my mouth to decline then I remembered I had to pay my rent by the end of the week, my car payment, insurance, credit card and cell phone bills were sitting unopened on my desk. Before I had a chance to ask questions, Zander mentioned the salary and hooked me.

Is your family a little wacky? Do you have weird family traditions? Do you have a few quirky family members who you can't help but love? You’re not alone! This collection of 101 heartwarming, hilarious stories celebrates the fun of having those eccentric, unusual, loving famly members. Everyone thinks their family is wacky—and they wouldn’t have it any other way. We’ve assembled 101 laugh-out-loud stories about bizarre traditions, eccentric relatives, peculiar holiday behavior, hysterically funny incidents, and more. You can’t make this stuff up! Share the fun with your spouse, in-laws, parents, grandparents, chil- dren, siblings, aunts and uncles, cousins, and friends. You’ll enjoy these true, personal stories, divided into 12 chapters of good clean (and not so clean!) fun: · Sometimes You Just Have to Laugh · Relatively Embarrassing · Happily Ever Laughter · We’re All Nuts Here · Dad Did What? · Not So Grave · Family Fun · Grand & Great · Mom Did What? · In-Laws and Out-Laws · Family Bonding · Kids Will Be Kids Chicken Soup for the Soul books are 100% made in the USA and each book includes stories from as diverse a group of writers as possible. Chicken Soup for the Soul solicits and publishes stories from the LGBTQ community and from people of all ethnicities, nationalities, and religions.

"This is a memoir about a father's illness and death from early onset Alzheimer's disease and will be helpful to other people who find themselves in the position of caring for a demented family member. The author's father, Ross Ward, was the founder of Tinkertown, the folk art museum located on the highway to Sandia Peak"--

Welcome to The World of Illusion-This is the world that many people, including the characters in this collection of short stories, think is real, when it is actually a world they create themselves. In "Summer Jobs, The Agony and the Ecstasy," a boy who believes the summer is traditionally for fun realizes the hard way that sometimes this assumption is not necessarily true. Steve believes the world-the restricting world he has created for himself-will come to an end after he delivers a mediocre oral report in "Freedom." Sammy is a 9-year old boy in "Cotton Candy Circus" who is just beginning to learn an illusion he will later create for himself when he is older. Sammy, now a high school student, in "The Bet $$$$," lives in a world where he is popular when in reality, he is actually offensive. In "Shake-Speared," Freddie the football player thinks he will lose his reputation and whatever chance he has of gaining friends if he is cast in a Shakespearian play. Freddie again faces the thought of losing everything in "The Mistake" when he fumbles the ball in a football game. Throughout The World of Illusion, author J. F. Mattaino explores the consequences of the shortsightedness and shortcomings of these very ordinary characters.