The Strength In Our Scars

"You are not broken, you're becoming."--Back cover.

Abuse in any form is devastating, and stories of abuse are never easy to tell—and they are certainly never easy to live. Yet there are many avenues that people take to seek a deep, inner healing of the heart, mind, body, and spirit, and for Ruth Almada, telling her story would be part of her journey. Strength in Scars is one mother’s story of facing, defeating, and moving beyond the many accounts of abuse in her family. Author Ruth Almada shares a raw and authentic story about the realities of abuse that she and many others have faced—realties that many are far too ashamed to even talk about. Yet she boldly speaks her mind and brings hidden abuses to the surface, where she is able to bring hope to those suffering the same fate. Amid personal tragedy, and with God’s grace, she discovered a purpose that was so profound that it changed the course of her life—and no one is beyond the reach of God’s grace. It can be overwhelming and difficult to share your greatest and deepest, darkest pain completely to help another, especially when it exposes generational lines of shame and humiliation. Yet hope can come from these fires of pain, and enough is enough—especially when the answer is much easier than some choose to believe.

A gentle reminder, for the days you feel light in this world, and for the days in which the sun rises a little slower. A gentle reminder for when your heart is full of hope, and for when you are learning how to heal it. A gentle reminder for when you finally begin to trust in the goodness, and for when you need the kind of words that hug your broken pieces back together. A gentle reminder for when growth hangs heavy in the air, for when you need to tuck your strength into your bones just to make it to tomorrow. A gentle reminder for when you are balancing the messiness, and the beauty, of what it means to be human, when you are teaching yourself that it is okay to be both happy and sad, that you are real, not perfect. A gentle reminder for when you seek the words you needed when you were younger. A gentle reminder for when you need to hear that you deserve to be loved the way you love others. A gentle reminder for when you need to recognize that you are not your past, that you are not your faults. A gentle reminder for when you need to believe in staying soft, in continuing to be the kind of person who cares. A gentle reminder for when you need to believe in loving deeply in a world that sometimes fails to do so. A gentle reminder to keep going. A gentle reminder to hope--

Through illustration and poetry, Seeds Planted in Concrete is Bianca Sparacino's raw testament to the beauty that is found within the contrasts of life. By writing truthfully about the intricacies of both love and loss, Sparacino's first collection of work is one that will speak to the very depths of those who read it, inspiring a will to love, and live. This collection is a manifesto of the journey every human being takes throughout their life; an assembly of words that celebrates the resilience of the human heart through stages of hurting, feeling, healing and loving.

Relatable, heartbreaking, and real, this is a story of resilience--the perfect novel for readers of powerful contemporary fiction like Girl in Pieces and Every Last Word. Before, I was a million things. Now I'm only one. The Burned Girl. Ava Lee has lost everything there is to lose: Her parents. Her best friend. Her home. Even her face. She doesn't need a mirror to know what she looks like--she can see her reflection in the eyes of everyone around her. A year after the fire that destroyed her world, her aunt and uncle have decided she should go back to high school. Be "normal" again. Whatever that is. Ava knows better. There is no normal for someone like her. And forget making friends--no one wants to be seen with the Burned Girl, now or ever. But when Ava meets a fellow survivor named Piper, she begins to feel like maybe she doesn't have to face the nightmare alone. Sarcastic and blunt, Piper isn't afraid to push Ava out of her comfort zone. Piper introduces Ava to Asad, a boy who loves theater just as much as she does, and slowly, Ava tries to create a life again. Yet Piper is fighting her own battle, and soon Ava must decide if she's going to fade back into her scars . . . or let the people by her side help her fly. "A heartfelt and unflinching look at the reality of being a burn survivor and at the scars we all carry. This book is for everyone, burned or not, who has ever searched for a light in the darkness." --Stephanie Nielson, New York Times bestselling author of Heaven Is Here and a burn survivor

Discovering My Scars is a moving account of a young woman’s struggle with unexplained depression that leads her to cope with self-injury. One dramatic day in her college dorm, self-injury lands her in the surreal world of a psych ward for 74 hours. Those traumatic hours define her life for many years, until she comes to see the trauma through the lens of self-forgiveness, ongoing recovery, and God’s grace of revelation. Within Discovering My Scars, Stephanie Kostopoulos makes herself vulnerable and invites readers into her reality with raw and visceral depictions of non-suicidal self-injury. The journey encapsulates life during her 20’s, while stepping back to childhood, revealing abuse that explains the events of her young adult life. Discovering My Scars commands attention and has a powerful message that lies in Stephanie’s first-person experience and authenticity. It is packed with revelations about what can underlie inexplicable anxiety and depression, and lets readers know it’s okay to “discover your own scars,” through the process of ongoing recovery and forgiveness.

The first thing you will notice when you meet Kechi Okwuchi is her scars. One of just two survivors of a devastating plane crash that killed more than 100 people, 16-year-old Kechi was left with third-degree burns over 65 percent of her body. More Than My Scars is her incredible story. A story of not just surviving impossible odds but thriving in a world that is too often caught up with how we look on the outside rather than seeing that our true value is within. Now in her early 30s, Kechi has spent the last 16 years refusing to be defined by her trauma. Follow her as she decides for herself what role her scars will play in her life before society decides for her. Her strong sense of identity, rooted in seeing herself the way God sees her, has allowed her to live authentically in a world that constantly seeks to define us by its ever-changing (and ever-shallow) standards. Kechi's story will inspire you to love and accept yourself as you are and confidently present your true self to the world.

Social Poetics documents the imaginative militancy and emergent solidarities of a new, insurgent working class poetry community rising up across the globe. Part autobiography, part literary criticism, part Marxist theory, Social Poetics presents a people’s history of the poetry workshop from the founding director of the Worker Writers School. Nowak illustrates not just what poetry means, but what it does to and for people outside traditional literary spaces, from taxi drivers to street vendors, and other workers of the world.