Showing results by narrator "Kate Forbes" in All Categories

Award-winning author Patricia Polacco based this story on her own childhood and the heroic teacher who helped her overcome her learning disability. Even though she is a wonderful artist who makes beautiful pictures with her crayons, Trisha can’t figure out how to read. The other kids make fun of her, calling her terrible names like “Dummy.” Then one day, a new teacher arrives. Mr. Falker doesn’t think Trisha is dumb at all. He knows he can help her read.

Rose Frampton is content with life on her family's plantation in South Carolina, but the year 1900 brings many changes for the 15-year-old. She could never imagine that she would marry a Yankee and become the mistress of a New York City estate. Uprooted from the tranquil shores of Saint Helena's Island, she comes to know and love Rene, learns to make her own decisions, and finds an untapped inner strength.

Ten-year-old Lizzy Baker loves her life in the Southwest Territory. Her family's farm is doing well, and her mother earns extra money by weaving. But at harvest time Lizzy suffers bouts of sickness. And each year is worse than the last. The doctor and the mid-wife say her terrible coughing is asthma. But they don't know the cause, and their potions and prescriptions aren’t much help.

A husband and son abandoned to forge a path alone. A young woman who sacrificed her dreams. How will the God of grace and hope help them find their way? At 19 years old, Old Order Amish Jolene Keim was on the brink of happily-ever-after when everything changed, stealing the future she expected and burdening her with an unbearable decision. For the next 10 years, Jolene throws herself into family life - and then she meets Andy Fisher.

Charlotte is not very excited about the doll her aunt Edme sends her. It has a prim painted mouth and is dressed in lace and silk. Besides, Charlotte has never really wanted a doll. “We like climbing trees,” Charlotte tells the doll. Much to Charlotte’s surprise, the new doll doesn’t seem to mind her rough way of playing. By the time they are finished, Charlotte’s new doll is muddy and torn, but her prim mouth has softened into a warm smile. But what will Aunt Edme think when she comes to visit?

Virginia native Lee Smith has won two O. Henry Awards, the Southern Book Critics Circle Award, and the Robert Penn Warren Prize for her engaging works. A collection of 14 tales - both new stories and previously published favorites - Mrs. Darcy and the Blue-Eyed Stranger is sure to delight listeners with its warm humor and unforgettable characters.

Amid a landscaped dotted with farms, trailers, and genteel homes, there lives a talented baker who desperately needs to win a cooking contest but must team up with a down-on-her-heels society matron to do it...the Bramble sisters, whose husbands tend to be short-lived and wealthy but whose latest prospect arrives with complications...a widow who becomes dangerously obsessed with a snake-charming televangelist...and a lonely florist who will do anything for the sake of a ruthless local mechanic.

For Louisiana Richardson, desperate times call for crazy-like-a-fox measures. As the new librarian at Alligator Bayou Parish's struggling library, she's returning to her Southern roots and facing trouble hotter than fresh cornbread out of the oven. Somehow, she's got to draw readers back in and prove the library is still vital - even as domineering parish board head Mrs. Gunderson plans to shut it down for good.

In 1955, 13-year-old Lyric, her older sister Summer, and their widowed father pack the car. Poor yet hopeful, they move from the hills of Virginia to Flint, Michigan, where "Poppy" plans to find factory work. Once they are in Michigan, Lyric and Summer love the excitement of the city. Lyric makes friends at her new school, but Summer feels like an outcast. Soon, the close bond between the two sisters begins to dissolve. Lyric always knew that Summer was a bit odd, but now Summer withdraws more and more into a fantasy world.

In the beautiful rolling hills of West Virginia, Rose McKay seeks a measure of success - in business and in love. When Rose McKay convinces her brother, Ewan, to invest in a pottery business, she's determined to assist him in making the endeavor a success. A recent graduate of the Philadelphia School of Design for Women, she believes she can design pieces that will sell well. Rose also reconnects with Joshua Harkness, who oversees his own family's pottery works and promises to help her.

Talented author Patricia Sprinkle pens this heartfelt tale about four women struggling to hold on to their hope. Billie never minded taking care of her disabled daughter alone, but now her ex-husband’s checks have stopped coming. Her sister Margaret’s marriage is disintegrating. Mimi’s retirement is being put on hold. And Emerita is a stranger in a new land. Tough times are surely before them, but they won’t have to face the difficulties alone.

A precocious and idealistic poet, Adelaide Piper can't wait to escape her tiny, South Carolina mill town for the freedoms of a prestigious, far-away university. But she's unprepared for the party-school reality that soon leaves her devastated, demoralized, and desolate. And then she remembers the "Jesus freak" who'd been her best friend - until her spiritual transformation.

In 1946 a young couple is brutally murdered in the East Texas town of Cold Springs. Now—34 years later—rumor has it that the sole suspect in these murders has returned. While the response to this report ranges from giddy excitement to vile loathing, another dead body turns up.

In this Junior Library Guild selection, Little Rose must brush her teeth, wash her face, and climb into bed while Mama takes a quick phone call. But as the call drags on, waves of uninvited guests pass through the front door. Soon the house overflows with bizarre visitors—from “muscley” men to winking wizards. As Mama continues to ignore the raucous revelry, Rose finally joins the party. But before the uproar gets out of hand, something quite surprising happens.

Jeanne Madison has earned her PhD at 26 and secured funding to find and excavate a treasure-laden 18th century caravel off the Yucatan coast. With her mentor and a handful of graduate students in her corner, she'll find the Luna Azul - or blue moon--by hook or by crook. When a tight budget forces her to hire Captain Gabriel Avery and his rust-bucket, "Fallen Angel", the comely PhD's not sure it won't be the latter.

Deeply affected by a teenaged affair with a man nearly three times her age, Marcy Bunkleman subtly shapes the lives of everyone she meets. As she and the people closest to her tell their stories, an incredible picture emerges of secrets and lies, of knowledge and ignorance, and gradually of people longing to recapture those moments of effortless goodness in their lives. As Huddle gently strips away the layers of stories we tell ourselves and others, we find the strengths and weaknesses of people like ourselves.

Though Alice and Greta live on the same mountain, they are about as different as two witches can be. Alice’s outlook is always rosy, just like her clothes. Greta always dresses in poison green, a color as putrid as her personality. Alice uses her magic to help people, while Greta uses hers to make people miserable. Steven J. Simmons’ delightful IRACBC Children’s Choice award winner teaches children some valuable lessons about getting along with others and accepting the consequences of their actions.

When Orange County, Florida, began its Literacy Project in 1994, Kyle Gonzalez set out to instill the lifelong joy of reading into her at-risk middle school students. She and Janet Allen delved into research and studied classroom approaches. As they reflected on the results, they discovered effective strategies that turn nonreaders into the most avid bookworms.

An Edenesque garden, a haunted tower, a forest shrouded in twilight wherein dwell Centaurs, Elves and a myriad of creatures fantastic and mysterious; this is the setting in which Babb’s "Lirazel" comes to life and where the tragedy of her life must unfold. Her doom is fixed, deadly, unavoidable and all the more tragic because of the choices Lirazel makes as she spurns wisdom for folly in a desperate gamble for love.

One lost soul is the adopted daughter of a Mafia enforcer. The other is a Drifter, a being so disconnected from time and substance that he exists only to be tethered to someone—anyone more real than himself. As 20-year-old Baby Doll stands at the graveside service of her controlling father-figure, her life begins to change when one who’s neither angel nor demon draws near to whisper words of hopeful desperation: “Do you see me?”