Ten months after her mother's death, the narrator of The Hero of This Book takes a trip to London. The city was a favorite of her mother's, and as the narrator wanders the streets, she finds herself reflecting on her mother's life and their relationship. Thoughts of the past meld with questions of the future: Back in New England, the family home is now up for sale, its considerable contents already winnowed. The narrator, a writer, recalls all that...

Mean moms say no. Mean moms are consistent. Mean moms trust themselves. Mean moms don't care what everyone else is doing. Mean moms teach kids the life skills they need to know. Mean moms slow it down. Mean moms fail their kids a little bit every day. And mean moms prepare their kids for the world, not the world for their kids, raising children into adults who know how to make themselves happy. Mean Moms Rule.

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Deep End of the Ocean and Twelve Times Blessed comes a novel of the breakdown of a family and of healing after a loss Giving advice is what Julianne Ambrose Gillis does for a living-every Sunday she doles it out to clueless people she doesn't know, in a column in her local Wisconsin paper. But when it comes to her personal life, Julie seems to have no insight whatsoever. She has worked hard to...

A beloved and very sleepy little boy resists his mother's efforts to put him to bed.

After interviewing mothers at the park, the toy store, and the zoo, Maxine decides that her own mother is worth keeping.

A little rabbit enjoys having a day off from kindergarten and spending time with his mother during a snowstorm, but his father's flight home is cancelled until the snow stops falling.

As Mama bear puts her child to bed, she shares a lullaby about bears of the world.

Cranky much? You're not alone. If we're honest with ourselves, almost every mom knows she can go from being kind to cranky in no time flat. When we're tired, busy, anxious, preoccupied-okay, so anytime, really-we tend to default to snapping and barking at the people we love best. But life doesn't have to be this way. Through coaching other moms who share a desire to be a kinder, gentler parent, Becky Kopitzke has learned the keys to taming the "momster"...

Depicts a number of animal babies sleeping as a mother puts her own baby to bed.

Every family photograph hides a story. Some are suffused with warmth and joy, others reflect the dull ache of disappointed dreams. For thirteen-year-old Trevor Kennedy, taking photos helps him make sense of his fractured world. His father, Kurt, struggles to keep a business going while also caring for Trevor's aging grandfather, whose hoarding has reached dangerous levels. Trevor's mother, Elsbeth, all but ignores her son while doting on his five-year-old...