Worst Summer Camp Ever

a Brad Finkley book

For those who care for chronically ill children, a new understanding of hope that equips adults to better nurture pediatric hope among sick kids—articulated by the children themselves As anyone with a chronic illness knows, hope can sometimes be hard to come by. For parents and caregivers of children with serious illness, there can be a real struggle to move beyond one's own grief, fear, and suffering to see what hope means for these kids. Duane Bidwell, a scholar, minister, and former hospital chaplain who has struggled with serious illness himself, spent time with 48 chronically ill children in dialysis units and transplant clinics around the United States. Chronically ill kids, he found, don’t adhere to popular or scholarly understandings of hope. They experience hope as a sense of well-being in the present, not a promise of future improvement, an ability to set goals, or the absence of illness and suffering. With this mindset, these kids suggest a new understanding of pediatric hope, saying hope becomes concrete when they (1) realize community, (2) claim power, (3) attend to Spirit, (4) choose trust, and (5) maintain identity. Offering textured portraits of children with end-stage kidney disease, After the Worst Day Ever illustrates in their words how sick children experience, maintain, and turn toward hope even when illness cannot be cured and severely limits quality of life. Their insights reveal how the adults in a sick child's world—parents, chaplains, medical professionals, teachers, and others—can nurture hope. They also shift our understanding of hope from an internal resource located “inside” an individual to a shared, communal experience that becomes a resource for individuals. Rich and moving, Bidwell’s work helps us imagine anew what it means to sustain hope despite inescapable suffering and the limits of chronic illness.

After a long year among normals, Skye is eager to return to Camp Midnight as an older, more seasoned camper. But her parents have other ideas. They’re putting her on a bus to the camp she was supposed to go to last summer—Camp Daybright! With a sinking feeling of déjà vu, Skye sets out for a summer of new friends in a new camp, complete with a creepily familiar new arch-frenemy. It all adds up to big adventures and even bigger scares at the camp with a happy name—and a monstrous secret just beyond its fences!

Carey English spends his days planning extravagant parties and lavish weddings and generally making people’s lives brighter. He spends his nights wishing for a man he doesn’t have to share and who won’t try to drag him back into the closet. It doesn’t help that the man he wants most doesn’t need a closet to begin with — his straight best friend, Sky. Skyler Wood has been dumped — again — just days before the holiday season, leaving him with an ex-fiancée, a nonrefundable New Year’s Eve getaway rental, and nothing to ring in the New Year but a broken heart. For Carey, rushing off to offer Sky a shoulder will either be the best decision he’s ever made—or it will lead to the worst heartbreak he’s ever experienced.

Freelance writer Alex Vlodnachek hasn’t had a vacation in ages. So when her sister invites her—and pup Lucy—for a girls’ get-away to Miami, it’s too tempting to resist. Big sister Annie wants Alex to savor a little fun in the sun at her South Beach condo. Redhead Alex just wants to escape complications at home, enjoy a little R&R and find an industrial-sized bottle of sunscreen. But trouble is hot on her heels—along with a few stray friends and relatives. On the eve of the condo association's hotly contested election, everything in the luxury high-rise is going haywire. But board president and social butterfly Leslie McQueen seems curiously absent amidst the chaos. Along with a good chunk of the association's cash. When several of Annie’s friends are left holding the bag, Alex jumps in to help—and discovers the tony condo tower offers no shortage of shady characters, murder, and mayhem. But when her brother, Nick, arrives—with their irrepressible grandmother, Baba, and Alex’s pal Trip, in tow—is the gang riding to the rescue? Or plunging Alex into more hot water? Praise for SEEING RED “Crazy surprises, fun characters, and a feisty heroine to save the day. Everything I love in a cozy.” —Lynn Cahoon, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author “Witty dialogue with laugh-out-loud moments, well-drawn characters and multiple mysteries weave their way through this satisfying story.” —Shelf Awareness

Ella's arrived at school camp and she can't wait for the FUN to begin! But then she discovers there are spooky noises outside at night, hair-raising camp activities to do, PLUS she has to share a cabin with scheming Peach Parker. How will Ella manage to avoid Peach's pranks AND the petrifying Giant Swing for a WHOLE week?! This is going to be the worst camp EVER!

“Robert Cohen’s Falling Into Theatre is a must-read for all lovers of theatre. Personal and engaging, Dr. Cohen’s reflections on his life as both artist and educator provide the reader with a special journey, a virtual history tour of the American theatre for the past fifty years. His personal experiences are a constant reminder of how love and passion for theatre continue to inspire us and enrich our lives.” —Stacy Keach This engaging memoir is presented as a series of lucky breaks, or surprise turning points in the story that led to Robert Cohen’s dramatic success in theatre arts. In retrospect, it would have been a great surprise had Cohen not ended up in theatre arts, given his early fascination with the stage, his chance at a young age to see original cast productions of Broadway plays, and the influence of his uncle, Marty Goldblatt, a publicist for Columbia Pictures who hobnobbed with celebrities of stage and screen. It was inevitable—Robert Cohen became a man of the theatre, not only as an actor but also working as a director, stage manager, lighting designer, playwright, translator, drama scholar, theatre educator, and worldwide theatre critic.