These stories tell of the myriad ways God invents to pour out His love on broken humanity. There is no heart so hard that He cannot soften it, no obstacle so great that He cannot overcome it, no human so isolated that He cannot find them.

"Outstanding collection of stories chosen from Arredondo's Obras completas (1991), translated by Cynthia Steele, Elena Poniatowska, and the author. Informative essay by Steele, foreword by Poniatowska, and Steele's fine translation provide a welcome introduction to a body of work that deserves a wider readership in both Spanish and English. Highly recommended"--Handbook of Latin American Studies, v. 58.

Note: Purchase this file once, and then make legal copies for your students. At the River presents a combination of interactive reading instructional techniques and sound ESL methodology to give low literate students a bridge to mainstream ESL textbooks. Each unit provides structured, scaffolded practice in writing and reading letters, letter combinations, words, sentences, and paragraphs. Clear illustrations reinforce both phonics and vocabulary for everyday situations. This effective, class-tested phonics and reading system enables even ESL teachers with no reading development training to teach nonliterate and semiliterate students how to read in English. A detailed teacher’s guide is available free of charge.

The New York Times–bestselling classic set amid the mountains and streams of early twentieth-century Montana, “as beautiful as anything in Thoreau or Hemingway” (Chicago Tribune). When Norman Maclean sent the manuscript of A River Runs Through It and Other Stories to New York publishers, he received a slew of rejections. One editor, so the story goes, replied, “it has trees in it.” Today, the title novella is recognized as one of the great American tales of the twentieth century, and Maclean as one of the most beloved writers of our time. The finely distilled product of a long life of often surprising rapture—for fly-fishing, for the woods, for the interlocked beauty of life and art—A River Runs Through It has established itself as a classic of the American West filled with beautiful prose and understated emotional insights. Based on Maclean’s own experiences as a young man, the book’s two novellas and short story are set in the small towns and mountains of western Montana. It is a world populated with drunks, loggers, card sharks, and whores, but also one rich in the pleasures of fly-fishing, logging, cribbage, and family. By turns raunchy and elegiac, these superb tales express, in Maclean’s own words, “a little of the love I have for the earth as it goes by.” “Maclean’s book—acerbic, laconic, deadpan—rings out of a rich American tradition that includes Mark Twain, Kin Hubbard, Richard Bissell, Jean Shepherd, and Nelson Algren.” —New York Times Book Review Includes a new foreword by Robert Redford, director of the Academy Award–winning film adaptation

A powerful exploration of grief and resilience following the death of the author's son that combines memoir, reportage, and lessons in how to heal Everyone deals with grief in their own way. Helen Macdonald found solace in training a wild gos­hawk. Cheryl Strayed found strength in hiking the Pacific Crest Trail. For Carol Smith, a Pulitzer Prize­ nominated journalist struggling with the sudden death of her seven-year-old son, Christopher, the way to cross the river of sorrow was through work. In Crossing the River, Smith recounts how she faced down her crippling loss through reporting a series of profiles of people coping with their own intense chal­lenges, whether a life-altering accident, injury, or diag­nosis. These were stories of survival and transformation, of people facing devastating situations that changed them in unexpected ways. Smith deftly mixes the stories of these individuals and their families with her own account of how they helped her heal. General John Shalikashvili, once the most powerful member of the American military, taught Carol how to face fear with discipline and endurance. Seth, a young boy with a rare and incurable illness, shed light on the totality of her son's experiences, and in turn helps readers see that the value of a life is not measured in days. Crossing the River is a beautiful and profoundly moving book, an unforgettable journey through grief toward hope, and a valuable, illuminating read for anyone coping with loss.

From a young writer trying to win a girl to a boy grappling with confusion about sin, each protagonist in this collection of nine short stories experiences a journey, an encounter, or a revelation that transforms them. In Rosas Gift and Other Stories, author Michael Cantwell presents these stories reflecting the joys and sorrows of all stages of human life. In the title story, Rosas Gift, Peter Collins, a semiretired commercial artist from New York, visits Guatemala, where he studies Spanish. As he wanders around Antigua, he meets a teenage Mayan indigene, a little girl who sells trinkets to tourists. Peter is inspired to help her get an education. In doing so, he is forced to confront the extreme poverty of Mayan life. Christmas in the Great Depression tells the story of Philip Nason, a twelve-year-old boy who wants a bicycle for Christmas. Because of the Depression, his father explains a bicycle is something the family cannot afford. Phil responds by waging a campaign, drawing cartoons promoting his wish and posting them all over the house and on the windshield of his fathers car. As Cantwells characters receive insights that help them meet the challenges of life, he makes each personality and destination come alive, from Depression-era Detroit to a confessional in a dark church in a New England city to the streets of Havana.

From the acclaimed author of Floating in My Mother’s Palm and Children and Fire, a stunning story about ordinary people living in extraordinary times—“epic, daring, magnificent, the product of a defining and mesmerizing vision” (Los Angeles Times). Trudi Montag is a Zwerg—a dwarf—short, undesirable, different, the voice of anyone who has ever tried to fit in. Eventually she learns that being different is a secret that all humans share—from her mother who flees into madness, to her friend Georg whose parents pretend he’s a girl, to the Jews Trudi harbors in her cellar. Ursula Hegi brings us a timeless and unforgettable story in Trudi and a small town, weaving together a profound tapestry of emotional power, humanity, and truth.