Slide Down My Cellar Door

Twin sisters, Mare Amy Silkes and Maeve Aggie Gordon have not seen one another since 1972. They were four years old when their father took Mare Amy away from the Descendants of David religious compound in Florida to live in Trinidad, Colorado. The girls’ mother, Day Jean LeBarre, stayed behind in the compound with Maeve Aggie and two-year-old Telley Mark. A series of lies and mistaken police reports, followed by a devastating fire at the compound, convince each of the surviving family members that the others are dead. The story traces the sisters through events that range from sentimentally delicious to terrifyingly dangerous.

Gone are the days of grandchildren growing up next door to or down the street from their grandparents. The opportunity for these youngsters to learn from their elders has diminished. But author David Nagle found a way to mentor his grandchildren and be a practical source of wisdom. He sent them e-mails. In E-mails to My Grandchildren, Nagle shares a collection of these e-mails that served to inform his grandchildren, giving them a sense of their roots. Offering a sophisticated spectrum of mentoring advice, the e-mails contain an entertaining mix of personal stories of growing up in another age, grandfatherly advice about living fully, and information about how to stay healthy. Meant to be savored and read again and again, E-mails to My Grandchildren challenges Nagles grandchildren to learn new things and to learn new ways of thinking about old things. This sampler of warm, biographical stories is both timely and timeless.

This biography has thirty-one chapters, over eighty thousand words, and over two hundred illustrations, photos, or diagrams. Billy Graham, the world-famous evangelist, once described his wife, Ruth Bell Graham, as the world's greatest Christian. Stan Berg, the author of June's biography, is convinced that June is the greatest Christian that he has ever known. June portrays the Christian love, the cornerstone of the Christian religion, always smiling, friendly, and dedicated to the Lutheran Church. One entire chapter of this book (the longest) is so dedicated in chapter 8, "June and the Lutheran Church." It was June's influence that changed the author Stan from a declared agnostic to a devoted and dedicated Christian. One chapter (chapter 30) tells the story of June's Christian love in the chapter on "June and a Little Girl from Africa." The book traces June's life through her early (Great Depression), middle, and elderly years, including her Alzheimer's years. Her many worldwide forensic-science travels are detailed. June and Stan traveled the world attending about 170 forensic-science conferences in Russia, Hungary, Austria, London, Edinburgh, Rome, the Vatican, Zurich, Canada, Mexico, and Dusseldorf, Germany. London was June's favorite city where she visited nine times and made personal friends of the Bruce's, south of London in Bexley, Kent. June also had an interest in Sherlock Holmes and visited his London haunts and twice stayed at the Sherlock Holmes Hotel. Stan often described June as his Dr. Watson for a lifetime!

Mason City, Illinois, a tiny rural community in the heart of the Midwest, is the setting for Dale Fancher's book of reflections and memories of a day gone by. A lifelong resident of Mason City, Fancher has a keen mind, and a heart for the quaint, easily lost memories of youth: From bathing in a galvanized washtub, to trailing behind the ice-delivery truck to beg shards of ice on a hot day; from fishing at Salt Creek at night and listening to the bobcats, to World War II blackouts. Reading Fancher's book, one becomes familiar with local characters like Kenny Hanover, still barbering after fifty years, and Edna Sylvie, the barefoot taxi lady. Told as a series of "Remember when .?" and "Did you ever .?" snippets, reading this book is like flipping through an old family photo album.

"Curly and Floppy Twistytail (The Funny Piggie Boys)" by Howard Roger Garis is a delightful children's book that follows the escapades of the Twistytail family, a group of charming pig characters. With whimsical stories and endearing characters, Garis creates an enchanting world that young readers will adore. This book is a fantastic choice for parents and young readers alike, offering entertaining stories that encourage imagination and creativity.

Karyna MyGlynn takes readers on tour through the half-haunted house of the contemporary American psyche with wit, whimsy, and candid confession. Disappointing lovers surface in the bedroom; in the bathroom, "the drained tub ticks with mollusks & lobsters;" revenge fantasies and death lurk in the basement where they rightly belong. With lush imagery and au courant asides, Hothouse surprises and delights. Karyna McGlynn is the author of I Have to Go Back to 1994 and Kill a Girl and three chapbooks. She is currently a Visiting Assistant Professor of Creative Writing and Translation at Oberlin College.