Lucy and her grandfather are the focus of this poignant and warm story that teaches that wrinkles are badges of happiness rather than signs of age. Lucy asks Granddad, “Why doesn't your skin fit you? It's all crinkly,” to which he replies, “Those crinkles are called wrinkles,” each of which he got when he smiled especially big. As Lucy traces Granddad's joy-filled face, he describes his memories and shares the cause of each line—his wedding day, Lucy's mother's birth, precious moments from her childhood, and Lucy's birth, among others. Beautiful drawings recreate each thoughtful memory, and the recollections showcase an intimate bond between the two generations.

Gough, Feehan, and Lyons have taken everything learned from their research on developing GrandFamily Resource Collections and leading grandfamily programming in several states and put it in this easy to use guide. They share the successes and failures of existing programs so other librarians can hit the ground running rather than trudge through a time-consuming and costly period of trial-and-error. It’s a lot more efficient to learn from someone else’s mistakes than to make your own. The target population, grandfamilies, and most specifically, grandparents raising grandchildren have become a statistically-significant group worthy of attention in many communities but library practitioners may not have explored further due to a lack of resources and money. Special features include: List of Web resources (government agencies, support groups, etc.) List of grants and funding opportunities Sample grant applications List of possible community partners for the library Sample surveys or some tactic for getting to know the needs of one’s target population Sample marketing plans Sample promotional materials Sample activity sheets Sample release forms, etc. With this practical and comprehensive guide, your library will be ready to jumpstart or easily expand a stellar program for the grandfamilies in your community.

I am Janie Elizabeth Waters Blake, and my goal in writing this is to put together the genealogy of the Waters family, to share what I have been able to learn, to answer questions, to know these people who are your bloodline, and to help you know yourself better.

SPC Charles Craigton's life was on the line. To save himself and his squad from sure defeat, he had to draw on an inner strength that transcended the military training he had received. His struggle to overcome seemingly insurmountable odds demonstrates that the past and the future are inseparable in the fight for survival.

In this book Kornhaber and Woodward explore the vital connections which link generations to each other and expose a new social contract that destroys the emotional bonds between grandparents and grandchildren., This is the first book which reviews, in a careful ethnographic manner, the relationship of grandchildren to grandparents and the place of love at one end and abandonment at the other by grandparents. The authors probe the deep, unexplored emotional histories of hundreds of grandparents; how they feel about themselves, their grandchildren, and their loss of function within today's nuclear family., With sharp increases in the number of broken families and working mothers, grandparents are more vital than ever and also more available than ever. This basic research document shows how grandparents recover their natural role as elders of the family and of society. The author's basic premise is that to exist is to be connected, and that no matter how grandparents act, they affect the emotional well-being of their grandchildren, for better or for worse, simply because they exist., In an age when mounting economic and social pressures make it increasingly easier to split a family than to sustain one, the authors alert us to a forgotten source of family strength, the power of grandparents to enrich the lives as a whole. The case studies reported in this volume represent a first effort in an area left unexplored by developmental researchers. There are lessons here for social scientists, but even more for our alienated society.—Urie Bronfenbrenner, Cornell University

August 29, 1924, somewhere after ten in the evening was the last time that Alexander C. Totten was last seen alive. Until one night when I was eight, when I woke to him sitting at the end of my bed. Growing up listening to what the adults would talk about and gathering what paper trail was left behind made me question. For a man who was found dead hours after seeing his wife. Who ran off on him and the kids two and a half months before. Trying to get her to come back to be a family again. Why wouldn't I question if he indeed killed himself, or was he helped with his choice? There was a reason four generations kept that question alive instead of letting it be buried alongside him. There was a bigger reason my great grandmother, when throwing that hand full of dirt on his coffin, felt like there was something off. Follow me, Gerald J. Stalter on my journey as I take my ghostly experiences with my 2x great grandfather's ghost. Helping me understand the clues left behind to finally put his story together. He chose to lead me to the truth. Why not share it? It's true what they say! It comes back to haunt you.