Seekers of the Wild Realm meets My Diary from the Edge of the World in this poignant and “action-packed” (School Library Journal) story of a lonely girl who befriends a kitten that might be much more—the first in a new series from author of Mrs. Smith’s Spy School for Girls, Beth McMullen! Twelve-year-old Cassie King’s father always told her the universe was on her side. All she had to do was work hard and things would go her way. But then Cassie’s father died, her mom retreated into herself, and her best friend traded her in for the popular crowd at school. The only thing Cassie still has is the volunteer work she does at the local library, a place where she can leave her troubles behind. Unfortunately, classmate and school outcast Joe Robinson is always there doing the same thing. One day, while Cassie and Joe are leaving the library, a bizarre storm hits, trapping them in a narrow alley. In the storm’s aftermath, Cassie discovers a bedraggled little kitten abandoned in a smelly dumpster. Cassie feels an immediate connection to the kitten and takes him home. But the kitten—who Cassie names Albert—is a little odd, with impossible strength and agility for a creature his size. At one point, Cassie swears she sees plumes of smoke rising from his water bowl, and one afternoon, while Albert is alone in her room, a strange symbol appears on the closet door. With new friend Joe’s help, Cassie figures out the symbol is a map. But a map to what? The friends soon discover that Albert is much more than he appears and is in grave danger. He needs Cassie’s help in ways she never could have imagined. Keeping him safe is the first thing Cassie has believed in for a long time. But is she strong enough to face down a sinister enemy moving ever closer and protect everything she loves?

C. Ray Nagin was Mayor of New Orleans when Hurricane Katrina hit. He weighs in on the chaotic days leading up to and following the biggest natural and man-made disaster in America's history. He delivers exacting detail on the city's relief effort, and exposes secrets that have been glossed over or spun out.

A pregnant, upper class nineteen-year-old Philadelphia Main Line debutante is confined, against her will, to a state mental hospital. She spends her pregnancy surrounded by the mentally challenged and the criminally insane. On April 19, 1964, she gives birth to a child, whom she is forced to give up for adoption. A loving middle-class couple adopts a month-old little girl from Catholic Charities. She is adored and cherished from the very beginning. It is as though she is dropped into the first chapter of a fairy tale-but we all know how fairy tales go. This is the story of a mother and daughter. Of what it is to give up a child and what it is to be given up. Of what it is to belong, what it is to be a family and what it is to yearn deeply, and to never lose hope-because anything is possible. In this exquisite memoir, Julie Mannix von Zerneck and Kathy Hatfield recount the stories of their lives. Deliciously strange, surprising and sweetly funny, this tenderly written book takes us on a wild and frightening journey. Written in two distinct and deeply expressive voices, their stories seamlessly meld together in a breathtaking ending. PRAISE FOR SECRET STORMS: "The book shifts between sections narrated by mother von Zerneck and daughter Hatfield, and both authors have gripping stories to tell. Readers will delight in their shared narrative, which is as heartwarming as it is engaging. von Zerneck's life alone would be a fascinating read, but combined with Hatfield's search for her mother it becomes compulsive reading." -Publishers Weekly "The book is beautifully written and...compelling, to the extent that readers might feel they are sitting with the authors, listening to them tell their tale...more like a novel than a memoir." -ForeWord Reviews "Shining through both narratives is goodness and the power of the human spirit. A dually narrated, uplifting tale on overcoming profound adversity." -Kirkus Reviews "This story will break your heart, bring on tears of joy, and make you believe in the healing power of love, forgiveness, and family." -Meredith Rollins, Executive Editor, Redbook Magazine "A heartbreaking but ultimately life-affirming mother-daughter story that defies fiction. Every plot twist, every emotion touches a chord, even for those of us who have not had to endure such a brutal separation. Read it and weep-and then finally rejoice. An ode to the enduring power of family ties." -Elizabeth Forsythe Hailey, author of A Woman of Independent Means "In my writers' workshops, the greatest gospel I can preach is the obvious one-to tell the truth, whatever form it takes. This amazing mother-daughter writing team exemplifies the concept to the max. The plot is Dickensian, rife with villains and struggle, the revealing of it, breathtaking in its simplicity and heartbreaking in its courage. What a story." -Ernest Thompson, Academy Award-winning writer of On Golden Pond "What an extraordinary and compelling story, all the more so because it's true-and told so beautifully by its two heroines." -Alice Maltin, producer & Leonard Maltin, film critic and correspondent for Entertainment Tonight "This is an uplifting story of hope and personal courage that is sure to resonate with most readers." -Monsters and Critics

In my conclusion! I must say! Every storm that has came into my life! I have learned that they did not come to break me! But to make me! I have really learn how to trust God! In every situation it's not always easy! Because there are, some Strom that comes in your life, that seen as if, it never going to end, there also time! When one storm end's another one come, that when fear, and all thought come to your mind! That Jesus dose, not care because He! Is allowing this storm to come! Some storm is painful, some storm come, and destroys everything in your life, so you have to rebuild, all over again, and If Jesus is not the Captain of your soul! You will sink, with Jesus on board! He will give you peace, in the midst of the storm! You shall walk throw the fire! And it shall not Kindle you! Walk throws the water, and it will not over take you! And with Jesus on board you will win every time.

Book summary The Secret Storm: A True Story of SurvivalThis is a story that shocked the nation and the world! This book, The Secret Storm, portrays the true and vivid accounts of extraordinary circumstances as told by a father, Dale Berne, and a son, Scott Berne. When the author gained legal custody of his two sons, his ex-wife hired a hit man to kill him, burned down their family home, absconded with the family bank account, created personal and professional discrimination at Dale Berne's place of work, and parentally kidnapped their two sons, Scott and Mark, taking them on a two-year dangerous journey to five countries and thirteen residences while simultaneously catapulting Dale Berne into an unprecedented search culminating with national and international notoriety and mainstream media attention.The voices of Dale and Scott Berne jump off each page as they struggle to cope with the emotional roller coaster of events and their efforts to swim out of the turbulent waters of disaster and into a tranquil stream of a stable family environment."From victims to survivors."There are several hundred-thousand parental abductions in the United States each year.There are more than several hundred-thousand parental abductions worldwide each year (not all countries report their cases). We, the authors, expect that this book will be one of the most emotional and insightful works that you will ever read because it is so much more than a case of parental abduction. The events portrayed in this true story have affected deeply each person who has been catapulted into the swirl of the secret storm--the attorneys, the district attorney, the family court judges, the social workers, the law guardian, the psychiatrists, the family physician, the neighbors, the schoolteachers, the school board members, and of course, the family members of three generations.