With the rise of teacher stressors, new and changing state standards, and high-stakes testing, it is more important than ever to remind literacy teachers and teacher-librarians about the reason that brought them to this profession: the love of story.The Gift of Story: Exploring the Affective Side of the Reading Life , by John Schu (affectionately known as Mr. Schu all over reading communities), invites readers to consider literacy beyond its academic benefits and explore how universal truths found in stories can change us, inspire us, connect us to others, answer our deepest questions, and even help us heal along the way. Using his experience as a teacher, librarian, book lover, and story ambassador, Mr. Schu asks readers to reflect on what it means to share their hearts through stories and how it can connect us to individuals and learning communities.The Gift of Story is presented through a study of five affective elements: Healer, Inspiration, Clarifier, Compassion, and Connector.Along the way, readers will encounter insightful contributions from educators, children's writers, and illustrators, as well as recommendations for sharing the gift of story with learning communities including: treasured book suggestions that stir reflection, engaging tips for celebrating literacy, and heart-growing applications to lift classroom and library practices.Celebrate the way we define and imagine ourselvesthrough literacy by using stories to connect to others, build and strengthen community, and honor the children we were called to teach.

The telling of several interlinked stories to illustrate the theme that love can triumph over loss. This book guides the reader to the realization that of all the gifts that people can give to one another, the most meaningful and long-lasting are strong love and the gift of story. Clarissa Pinkola Estes is the author of Women Who Run With Wolves.

"The Gift of the Magi" is a short story by O. Henry first published in 1905. The story tells of a young husband and wife and how they deal with the challenge of buying secret Christmas gifts for each other with very little money. As a sentimental story with a moral lesson about gift-giving, it has been popular for adaptation, especially for presentation at Christmas time.

“Anything can be bought, Savannah, and everything has a price.” “Only in your universe, Tobias.” Tobias Stone, a troubled billionaire, lives an empty life devoid of love. Haunted by demons from his past, he uses his wealth to insulate him from the real world. Savannah Page, a divorced and debt-ridden single mom, has fled an abusive marriage and arrives in New York with her young son, eager to make a new start. He’s filthy rich, she’s dirt poor. He pays for sex, she’s a loving single mom. Savannah’s money worries are solved when she gets an office job working for Tobias. But at what price? This is an opposites attract, slow burn, steamy billionaire romance, featuring a ruthless businessman with a heart of stone and the struggling single mom who isn’t looking for love.

Featuring the same unique flip-book design and universal message that made I Love You More a bestseller, this companion book brings the same beautiful lyricism to a new dual idea: A child is a gift to the world, and the world is a gift to a child. Evoking all that makes a child unique, the book then mirrors with the world's special gifts-from mountains to seas to life itself. Inspirational as well as gorgeously written, both poems reach the same moving conclusion: A child in the world is the greatest gift of all. Praise for I Love You More: "I can just see an adult and a kid giggling away, flipping the book over and taking turns reading to get to the middle and a big fat hug... Sweet, simple examples that a little one with a big heart will understand." -Alyne Ellis, AARP Radio Network

A New York Times bestseller! A pioneering and timely study of how to navigate life's biggest transitions with meaning, purpose, and skill Bruce Feiler, author of the New York Times bestsellers The Secrets of Happy Families and Council of Dads, has long explored the stories that give our lives meaning. Galvanized by a personal crisis, he spent the last few years crisscrossing the country, collecting hundreds of life stories in all fifty states from Americans who’d been through major life changes—from losing jobs to losing loved ones; from changing careers to changing relationships; from getting sober to getting healthy to simply looking for a fresh start. He then spent a year coding these stories, identifying patterns and takeaways that can help all of us survive and thrive in times of change. What Feiler discovered was a world in which transitions are becoming more plentiful and mastering the skills to manage them is more urgent for all of us. The idea that we’ll have one job, one relationship, one source of happiness is hopelessly outdated. We all feel unnerved by this upheaval. We’re concerned that our lives are not what we expected, that we’ve veered off course, living life out of order. But we’re not alone. Life Is in the Transitions introduces the fresh, illuminating vision of the nonlinear life, in which each of us faces dozens of disruptors. One in ten of those becomes what Feiler calls a lifequake, a massive change that leads to a life transition. The average length of these transitions is five years. The upshot: We all spend half our lives in this unsettled state. You or someone you know is going through one now. The most exciting thing Feiler identified is a powerful new tool kit for navigating these pivotal times. Drawing on his extraordinary trove of insights, he lays out specific strategies each of us can use to reimagine and rebuild our lives, often stronger than before. From a master storyteller with an essential message, Life Is in the Transitions can move readers of any age to think deeply about times of change and how to transform them into periods of creativity and growth.