All about the adjustment a toddler makes when her mother returns to work, this humorous picture book takes on a big emotional milestone with a light hand. Perry knows all of Mama’s shoes. She knows that the zip-zup shoes are for skipping and swinging in the park. She knows that the pat-put shoes are for splishing and splashing in the rain. And she knows that no-shoes are for bath time and bedtime. But, one morning Mama puts on click-clack shoes, and Perry wonders what these new shoes are for. When Mama drops Perry at Nan’s house, and the click-clack shoes take Mama away for the whole day, Perry decides she hates these shoes! Perry later hides the click-clack shoes . . . and all of Mama’s shoes, just in case. Mama then explains that the click-clack shoes bring her to work in the morning, and they will also bring her home to Perry every single evening—clickety-clack fast!

By the time Sylvia Richardson is eighteen, she has buried her parents; given birth to a daughter; and become a widow. It is 1942, and World War II has destroyed Sylvia's dream of dancing in red heels through life to the melody of a Hank Snow record. Instead, she is raising her daughter, Sassy, alone in the coal mining town she vowed to leave behind. By 1955, thirteen-year-old Sassy has been brought up on a stiff dose of Mama's lessons on how to be a lady-even though Mama drinks, smokes, and dates a myriad of men. But everything changes the day a woman accuses Sylvia of trying to steal her husband, forcing Sassy to come to terms with her Mama's harsh teen years. For Sylvia, only the support of kith and kin can rescue her from her mistakes. Spanning twenty years, Mama's Shoes is a haunting saga of love, despair, and forgiveness as a cadence of female voices weaves a spell of mountain lore and secrets, defines family as more than blood kin, and proves second chances can bring happiness. "An absolutely wonderful novel, its setting a beautifully realized small Appalachian coal town, its characters so vivid they're practically jumping off the page." -Lee Smith, author of Mrs. Darcy and the Blue-Eyed Stranger and The Last Girls

From the award-winning team behind Ida, Always comes a story about a friendship that grows between a blind horse and a gruff goat All the animals at the Open Bud Ranch can see that Jack likes keeping his space to himself. But when Charlie arrives, he doesn’t see Jack at all. He’s still getting used to seeing out of only one of his eyes. The two get off to a bumpy start. At first, Jack is anxious and distrustful. But one day, he summons his courage and guides Charlie to his favorite sunlit field: this way, Charlie. And so begins a powerful friendship that will be tested by life’s storms—but will ultimately change each life for the better.

When Mama gets sick, Papa and the kids wear themselves out doing the cooking and cleaning for the day.

Two quarreling cobbler brothers who specialize in opposite feet learn it takes two to make a pair.

Mama's bed is very special. It is quiet safety on scary stormy nights. It is bouncy fun on happy days. Mama's bed is a little world, where the sun is a mother's warm love, the landscape is a cozy quilt, and there is room for everything and everyone in the family!

By the time Sylvia Richardson is eighteen, she has buried her parents; given birth to a daughter; and become a widow. It is 1942, and World War II has destroyed Sylvias dream of dancing in red heels through life to the melody of a Hank Snow record. Instead, she is raising her daughter, Sassy, alone in the coal mining town she vowed to leave behind. By 1955, thirteen-year-old Sassy has been brought up on a stiff dose of Mamas lessons on how to be a ladyeven though Mama drinks, smokes, and dates a myriad of men. But everything changes the day a woman accuses Sylvia of trying to steal her husband, forcing Sassy to come to terms with her Mamas harsh teen years. For Sylvia, only the support of kith and kin can rescue her from her mistakes. Spanning twenty years, Mamas Shoes is a haunting saga of love, despair, and forgiveness as a cadence of female voices weaves a spell of mountain lore and secrets, defines family as more than blood kin, and proves second chances can bring happiness. An absolutely wonderful novel, its setting a beautifully realized small Appalachian coal town, its characters so vivid theyre practically jumping off the page. Lee Smith, author of Mrs. Darcy and the Blue-Eyed Stranger and The Last Girls

Once upon a time, a childhood didn't include cell phones, texting, email and video games; no instant music, flat irons, silky hair products and malls for every good thing, needed or not. After the big money crash in 1929, followed by many years of the Great Depression, our community stuck together. The Depression babies arrived all through the thirties and when World War II arrived, jobs were greatly appreciated but young men went off to fight and so many to die. With the men away at war or working, women joined together to raise the children. An old African saying, it takes a village to raise a child, was recently brought to the fore. This is something I found to be very true during my early years. In fact, it was how our community operated. That's what I found growing up in a small rural southern community centered around church and school. Everybody looked out for each other and relied on each other. Sometimes being close knit spilled over into a lack of privacy, usually it involved gossip, but mostly tender loving care. These are the depression years and the war years my parents' generation endured.

In writing these story's, I confess my older siblings inspired and convinced me the need for them to be told. The stories are centered, on the life of an extended family revealing the past as it was lived. Their past lives yet undocumented who became freedmen and formed an early base for progress towards a free society of blacks. This family spoke glowingly of their past. They surrendered themselves to the cause in World War One. They gained some resemblance of advancing freedom but more economic advancement in the Roaring twenties that followed. Progress was a struggle. World War Two brought a necessity for all people to be involved. We, Mama N 'Em's continued to struggle for progress, affected by economic conditions, the prejudices of our governing bodies, schooling opportunities or the lack there of, our race conscious leaders and ministers as well as those who opposed our progress. Here are stories of one family who endured those experiences. As the author I have attempted to relate as much of the life and times as possible and being the sixth child of a larger family the stories become more biological yet the lifetime of Mama N 'Em is kept.