In this amusing story—that is both slightly vintage and completely timeless— good old Ralph Jackson has deserted Brookfield School (his family has had to move to another city) just four weeks before the “picnic day” baseball game against the Lawson Lions. His buddies Trent, Wilmer and Harley are not happy, but they get only gleeful heckling, rather than sympathy from classmates Wonderful Wanda, Gorgeous Glenora and Susie Scott. The dismal situation is not improved by the arrival of a new boy, Archibald Brewster, who wears a suit and tie and is taken to and from school by a chauffeur—he is NOT the answer to the Brookfield Bumblebees’ prayers. However, the boys, especially Trent, cannot get rid of Archibald—he is there every time they turn around. He seems to be particularly captivated by Trent’s offbeat and lovable family made up of dad, mom and seven sons. So begin four rather harrowing weeks in which the Brookfield Bumblebees have the opportunity to discover that things are truly not always what they seem to be. Written by an accomplished storyteller, this touching and humorous tale is a great family read-aloud. Ethelyn M. Parkinson was born in 1906 in Oconto County, Wisconsin. She trained and worked both as a teacher and as a nurse, later drawing from her experiences to create the many humorous situations in which she placed her appealing young characters. She wrote plays, poetry and fiction for periodicals as well as her more well-known books for children. In 1970, she was awarded the Abingdon Press Award for her book Never Go Anywhere with Digby. Though her books are set in a period—1950’s-1970’s—in which attitudes, dress and behavior may seem somewhat strange to readers today, the stories remain engaging and accessible. It is human to smile and to laugh, no matter what the time-period, and Mrs. Parkinson provides her readers with ample cause to do both.

History, magic, and adventure collide in this riveting middle-grade fantasy novel about an unusual boy who unlocks an ancient relic—and with it, a forgotten world. Befriended by a band of young witches, Archibald Finch must quickly adapt to survive in Lemurea, where a battle born in the Middle Ages is still unfolding . . . Archibald is a risk-averse boy with quirks that earn him plenty of eye-rolls, especially from his older sister, Hailee. Things get worse when his parents move the family from London to his grandmother’s creepy manor in the English countryside. Now he has to deal with hairless dolls in the library, weird stone creatures on the roof, and a spooky forest at the edge of the backyard. But these turn out to be the least of Archibald's problems . . . One day, as he's exploring the cavernous house, he finds a curious globe that whisks him away to a secret world, hidden for 500 years. Archibald finds himself on a thrilling adventure full of medieval magic, mysterious symbols, and the strangest beasts, while Hailee—who witnessed her brother’s disappearance—embarks on a daring quest to find him.

On growing up in the American South of the 1960s—an all-American white boy—son of a long line of Methodist preachers, in the midst of the civil rights revolution, and discovering the culpability of silence within the church. By the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and columnist for The Birmingham News. "My dad was a Methodist preacher and his dad was a Methodist preacher," writes John Archibald. "It goes all the way back on both sides of my family. When I am at my best, I think it comes from that sermon place." Everything Archibald knows and believes about life is "refracted through the stained glass of the Southern church. It had everything to do with people. And fairness. And compassion." In Shaking the Gates of Hell, Archibald asks: Can a good person remain silent in the face of discrimination and horror, and still be a good person? Archibald had seen his father, the Rev. Robert L. Archibald, Jr., the son and grandson of Methodist preachers, as a moral authority, a moderate and a moderating force during the racial turbulence of the '60s, a loving and dependable parent, a forgiving and attentive minister, a man many Alabamians came to see as a saint. But was that enough? Even though Archibald grew up in Alabama in the heart of the civil rights movement, he could recall few words about racial rights or wrongs from his father's pulpit at a time the South seethed, and this began to haunt him. In this moving and powerful book, Archibald writes of his complex search, and of the conspiracy of silence his father faced in the South, in the Methodist Church and in the greater Christian church. Those who spoke too loudly were punished, or banished, or worse. Archibald's father was warned to guard his words on issues of race to protect his family, and he did. He spoke to his flock in the safety of parable, and trusted in the goodness of others, even when they earned none of it, rising through the ranks of the Methodist Church, and teaching his family lessons in kindness and humanity, and devotion to nature and the Earth. Archibald writes of this difficult, at times uncomfortable, reckoning with his past in this unadorned, affecting book of growth and evolution.

More than 150 firsthand accounts of the American Civil War, many of them long forgotten and previously unpublished. Includes accounts from Lee, Longstreet, Pickett, Meade, and Hancock. Maps pinpoint each writer's location on the battlefield.

Baby boomers enjoyed the most benign period in human history: fifty years of relative peace, cheap energy, plentiful grain supply, and a warming climate due to the highest solar activity for 8,000 years. The party is over—prepare for the twilight of abundance.

Well-known public historian Robert Archibald's personal exploration of the intersections of history, memory, and community reveals how we participate in the making and sustaining of community as well as how we remember the community that shaped us. Writing in a rich literary narrative, Archibald blends local history, personal reminiscence, and an analysis of the changing meaning of community with a passionate call for more effective public history. A Place to Remember poetically illustrates how we are active participants in the past and the role and importance of history in contemporary life.