Stray Home

Winner of the Vassar Miller Prize in Poetry 2009 With poems that combine the self-scrutiny of Philip Larkin with the measure of Elizabeth Bishop, Amy M. Clark burnishes her first collection, Stray Home, with exquisite understatement and formal control. Sweeter than Larkin and more intimate than Bishop, these poems address the suppressed pain and shame of living as a childless woman in a world of mothers, the dissociation attendant on depression and fraught family relationships, and the search for a sense of belonging in the face of dislocation. Stray Home cuts deeply to discover the buried emotions and insights universal to all suffering and compassionate human beings. "Clark is able to imbue our small, usually overlooked moments with unexpected grandeur. A quiet humor is employed in service of her twin gifts, imagination and metaphor. This is an accomplished, deft, and important debut."-Beth Ann Fennelly, author of Tender Hooks and judge AMY M. CLARK grew up in San Luis Obispo, California. She is a graduate of Carleton College, and holds degrees from the University of Nevada, Reno, and Spalding University's MFA Program. She works as an editor and divides her time between Concord, Massachusetts, and San Diego, California. Her poems have been published in The Cincinnati Review, Cream City Review, and 32 Poems. Number Seventeen: Vassar Miller Prize in Poetry

Based on a true story, a stray dog befriends an orphan boy in a refugee camp on a Greek island. The fishermen on Lesvos call her Kanella because of her cinnamon color. She’s a scrawny, nervous stray — easily intimidated by the harbor cats and the other dogs that compete for handouts on the pier. One spring day a dinghy filled with weary, desperate strangers comes to shore. Other boats follow, laden with refugees who are homeless and hungry. Kanella knows what that is like, and she follows them as they are taken to a makeshift refugee camp. There she comes to trust a bearded man, an aid worker, and gradually settles into a contented routine. Kanella grows healthy and confident. She has a job now — to keep watch over the people in her camp. One day, a little boy arrives and does not leave like the others. He seems to have no family and, like Kanella, he is taken in by the workers. He sleeps on a cot in the food hut, and Kanella keeps him warm and calm. When two new adults come to the camp. Kanella is ready to defend the boy from them, until she is pulled away by the bearded man. They are the boy’s parents, and now he must go with them. Eventually, the camp is dismantled, and Kanella finds herself homeless again. Until one night, huddled in the cold, she awakens to see two bright lights shining in her eyes — the headlights of a car. The bearded man has come back for her, and soon Kanella is on a journey, too, to a new home of her own. Key Text Features maps illustrations author's note Correlates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.5.6 Describe how a narrator's or speaker's point of view influences how events are described.

From the author of the international bestseller Sweetbitter, a memoir of survival, starting over, and love in all its complicated guises. Even after achieving her dream of selling her debut novel, Stephanie Danler feels adrift in New York. Struggling in the throes of a doomed relationship and haunted by her tumultuous childhood, something nameless compels her to return home to Southern California. In a cottage in Laurel Canyon, as a new life begins to shape itself, she finally succumbs to memories of the past that have proved impossible to escape. A father who swung in and out of her life erratically, charming and mercurial and prone to addiction. A mother now disabled by years of alcoholism and an aneurysm, who cannot remember the abuse she inflicted. The looming, desolate mountains of Colorado, and a teenage freedom that nearly killed her. And above all, the painful love and forgiveness for those who failed her over and over again. ‘It's such a thrill to watch a writer open up her greediest thoughts, to slice open little pockets of her skin and root around underneath her flesh.’ New York Times Book Review ‘A compulsive, neck-breaking masterpiece.’ Lisa Taddeo ‘This is a story of triumph: the triumph of grit, talent, grace, and beauty over the dark pull of inner demons.’ Dani Shapiro

A step-by-step guide to saving stray pets, keeping your household clean, and not becoming a pet hoarder.

Every day thousands of baby boomers are retiring and collecting Social Security, while at the same time, they are struggling to care for elderly parents who are living well into their nineties. The stress of deciding if a parent is no longer capable of living independently can cause friction and heartache among families, especially if a parent is adamant and uncooperative about considering placement in a facility. Take heart: If you feel a parent is no longer functioning well at home, there are a few simple guidelines to help you on your way. Dropped Off Like a Stray Puppy introduces us to the fictional Walsh family and is based on Pat Bruch’s thirty years in geriatric care as a Licensed Practical Nurse in New York State. She shares many family frustrations as they try to place an unwilling parent in a safer environment. If this story helps you, reader, she is happy to be of service.

The author's father, Frederick George Snow (1909-1994), became a ward of the Church of England Society for Providing Homes for Waifs and Strays when he was four years old in 1913. He was sent from England to Canada as one of the "Home Children" when he was fifteen. This book contains the author's search for his father's identity and family in England as well as information on the British child emigration system between 1880 and 1930.