A debut #OwnVoices picture book by a father-and-son writing team follows the experiences of a boy who reluctantly attends a family reunion before discovering that he is enjoying the large and joyful gathering in spite of his apprehensions.

During a rumschpringe visit to Niagara Falls, Phoebe Miller meets Eli Riehl, a young man who charms her—and everyone else—with his exceptional storytelling ability. When Phoebe sketches scenes to illustrate one of his tales, Eli encourages her incredible talent, and together they embark on a lofty and unlikely business venture for two young Amish people—writing and illustrating a children's book. Eli's kindness and appeal extend beyond his knack for words to reach inside Phoebe's heart. But he is an only son with five sisters, and when his father suffers a heart attack, Eli gives up his writing to assume responsibility on the farm. Though willing to abandon his dream of becoming an author, he won't give up his beloved Phoebe. Can their love for a good story develop into something that lasts forever, or will Phoebe's deep-seated fear of desertion stand in their way?

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A longtime Nantucket resident is trying to make the best of a lonely summer. Her spirited granddaughter is learning what she wants out of life. Unforgettable surprises await them both in this magical, multigenerational novel from Nancy Thayer. “Readers come to Nancy Thayer novels for the idyllic Nantucket beaches and lifestyle, but they stay for the characters.”—Mary Alice Monroe Eleanor Sunderland loves living on Nantucket in a gorgeous cliffside home that has been in her family for decades. Yet this year she can’t help but feel a bit isolated, even as the island comes alive with summer travelers. Her best friend has skipped town, leaving Eleanor lonely and feeling nostalgic about her family’s weekend trips to the island, made less frequently in the years since her husband’s passing. Now her money-driven children complain and beg her to sell her beloved home for a steep payout. Hoping to kick the season off on a good note, Eleanor decides her seventieth birthday may be the perfect occasion for a much-needed reunion. Fresh from her college graduation, Eleanor’s granddaughter, Ari, has just ended an engagement. She longs for a change of scenery and to escape from her parents’ snobbish expectations. Taking advantage of her newfound freedom, she heads to Nantucket to clear her head before graduate school, moving in with her grandmother and taking a job at the local beach camp. As she watches Eleanor begin to form a bond with an old acquaintance, Ari herself becomes smitten with a friend’s charming older brother. But just as grandmother and granddaughter fall into a carefree routine, a few shocking discoveries throw them off course. Eleanor and Ari learn to lean on each other through every new challenge they face in life and love, in this tale filled with Nancy Thayer’s signature Nantucket magic. “Nancy Thayer’s Family Reunion is a wonderful slice of life.”—New York Times bestselling author Brenda Novak

The reunion is a worldwide phenomenon celebrating life, treasured memories, enduring relationships, shared experiences, and the unique bonds that have held groups of people together. For families, the reunion is a living tapestry of decades past and futures beckoning, an opportunity to revisit intimate history and the foundations upon which many lives have been built. Planning and hosting such an important event require superior organizing skills, dedicated attention to detail, and the ability to reinforce and reaffirm the ties that have shaped your family. The Family Reunion Planner is a comprehensive step-by-step guide that explores all the facets of creating and hosting a successful family reunion, including: Selecting the type of reunion, from simple picnics to more elaborate weekend gatherings Organizing attendance and compiling guest lists Locating relatives Planning budgets Creating menus and buying gifts Selecting themes and activities Communicating with the family throughout the year via postcards, flyers, and newsletters Compiling a recorded history of the event using the written word, photographs, and videos And much more Indispensaable and one-of-a-kind, The Family Reunion Planner is the perfect resource for anyone—from the seasoned party planner to the first-time host—considering organizing a family reunion.

The brilliant new novel from the beloved Sunday Times-bestselling author of Orange Blossom Days

Edith Wagner explains how to tackle the challenge of organizing the reunion of an oftentimes diverse family to create an enjoyable experience for all. She presents advice from hundreds of reunion experts, including information on budgeting, announcements, site location, and meal planning.

When the invitation to the Preffyn family reunion arrives interrupting a perfectly decent summer vacation, 15-year-old Shelley Wollcott is anything but enthusiastic. It’s not that Shelley has anything against her relatives, she just can’t stand it when they give her that “what a pity” look. It’s not her fault that her real mother walked out on the family or that her father has remarried yet again. With Dad away on business and her older sister visiting their mother in Paris, Shelley must face the “perfect” Preffyns’ reunion with only her prankster younger brother and her insecure new stepmother at her side. It’s an opportunity to uncover the family’s secrets, but Shelley isn’t sure whether, when she discovers the truth, she’ll laugh or cry. In this funny and poignant novel by Caroline B. Cooney, Shelley learns to appreciate all the members of her unusual family—including herself!—in ways she never anticipated. And she discovers things are often not as perfect as they seem.

BookMath that students can relate to!This full-color, photo-illustrated math reader seamlessly integrates Math with the curriculum areas of Science and Social Studies. Grab your students' attention and inspire a love of Math and of learning.

Poetry. African & African American Studies. Family reunions are special occasions, a time of connections, reflections, of meeting new members, remembering those no longer with us, more than a little gossip (a good reason not to miss one if you don't want to be the one talked about!) and (mostly) good-natured kidding, occasional recriminations and grievances aired or confined to knowing side glances, and perhaps most importantly, the chance to pass on and keep alive the history and lore of the family from one generation to the next. Grace C. Ocasio's FAMILY REUNION is all of these things, and in reading this book we are privileged guests at just such an event, invited to hear the stories of her relatives across multiple generations. Because this is an account of an African-American family, it is necessarily in part a chronicle of racism and injustice and thus a contribution to the poetry of documentary witness. There are moments of tragedy (a child permanently brain damaged by being dropped by a nurse at birth) and indignity (a woman denied a PhD by Harvard because of her race), but also triumphs (one man becomes a celebrated physician, and many in the family graduate from college and go on to successful professional careers--including the author). These poems speak candidly of the experience of being Black in America. But that is not all that they do. What they reveal most of all is how this one family's story manages to be both uniquely their own and simultaneously universal, because we can all recognize ourselves and our own messy histories in these pages, whatever our race or origin. We've all encountered that uncle, that grandmother in our own families; we've heard the lectures (or given them ourselves) on hair and clothing, behavior and expectations, the suitability of suitors, all the friction at generational boundaries. Now, more than ever, we need to be reminded that we are all one family--however dysfunctional. To say that Ocasio does this with grace may be a pun, but it is also the truth. The book ends with a brief prose account of a family reunion that is hilariously chaotic, leaving the author with "hysteria welling in my throat." Well, that's family for you! But what a treat it is to get to know this one.