While the violent boys at the detention center alarm most adults, Sophia sees possibility where others see hopelessness and is drawn to them despite their volatile natures. Mindful of the impact of their past traumas, her determination to seek justice on their behalf leads to battles with administrators as heart-breaking decisions and events affect those she strives to support. Will punishment be the answer? Or can they be helped to find new ways? Will they survive once released?Struggling to endure these challenges, Sophia's own world is rocked by a family death that exposes agonizing long-buried secrets. Unraveling the web of her past forces Sophia to see herself and those around her through new eyes, when everything she once believed gets challenged.Available at https://www.amazon.com/dp/1975628500/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1505846897&sr=8-1&keywords=crooked+grow+the+trees

Among the rows and rows of little trees growing on Brown's Christmas Tree Farm, there is one tree that is not like the others. This little spruce asks the same two questions of every creature he meets: "What is Christmas? What is a Christmas tree?" The little tree hears no response until one day he shelters a white dove from a storm. Through this friendship, the little tree learns the meaning of love, sacrifice and Christmas. Since its fi rst publication in 1990, the book has become a Christmas favourite. The new edition features a sparkly foil cover, redesigned artwork and an extended page count. A must-have for the holidays!

This “meticulously plotted” novel explores “the mysteries of dysfunctional families . . . and adolescents’ imperfect . . . understanding of the world of adults” (Sarah Lyall The New York Times Book Review). “The night we left Ellen on the road, we drove up the mountain in silence.” It is the early 1980s and fifteen-year-old Libby is obsessed with The Field Guide to the Trees of North America, a gift her Irish immigrant father gave her before he died. She finds solace in “The Kingdom,” a stand of red oak and thick mountain laurel near her home in suburban Pennsylvania, where she can escape from her large and unruly family and share menthol cigarettes and lukewarm beers with her best friend. One night, while driving home, Libby’s mother, exhausted and overwhelmed with the fighting in the backseat, pulls over and orders Libby’s little sister Ellen to walk home. What none of this family knows as they drive off leaving a twelve-year-old girl on the side of the road five miles from home with darkness closing in, is what will happen next. A Crooked Tree is a surprising, indelible novel, both a poignant portrayal of an unmoored childhood giving way to adolescence, and a gripping tale about the unexpected reverberations of one rash act. “Beautifully written with tenderness and wisdom.” — Elizabeth Wetmore, New York Times bestselling author of Valentine “Suspenseful, affecting, and disarmingly evocative of childhood and the not-so-distant era of the 1980s.” —Kirkus Reviews “Filled with pathos, nostalgia, and the best kind of suspense..” — Liz Moore, New York Times bestselling author of Long Bright River “Completely entrancing.” —Julia Pierpont, New York Times–bestselling author of Among the Ten Thousand Things

A homeless boy's rescue of a scrawny Christmas tree sparks a glimmer of hope that has far-reaching effects.

Imagine breaking the law without fear. Imagine piles of money that literally grew on trees. Those dreams became reality for David Mac after the young man from Michigan settled in Madison County, Arkansas. This is his tale about life as a marijuana moonshiner in the Ozark Mountains, and the corrupt sheriff who made it all possible. It’s a story about drugs and arson, murder and suicide, friendship and betrayal. Most importantly, this book reveals one of Arkansas’ darkest secrets, and demystifies one of its greatest legends. Sheriff Ralph Baker, the man who befriended David Mac, and taught him what it means to be an outlaw. This is Mac’s story of damnation and redemption. From the first marijuana seed he planted, to the Devil’s bargain Mac struck with Sheriff Baker, this book explores their harrowing journey on the twisted outlaw trail. Along the way, the unlikely duo of lawman and outlaw discovered that greed ruins even the best-laid plans, and the Devil always gets His due. Although the hills and hollows echoed with whispers after the sheriff’s alleged suicide, no one dared to reveal the hidden truth behind his double life. Until now.