"Trees are sanctuaries. Whoever knows how to speak to them, whoever knows how to listen to them, can learn the truth. They do not preach learning and precepts, they preach undeterred by particulars, the ancient law of life." --Hermann Hesse Tilly's Tree begins with the birth of a baby girl. To honor her life and teach her to connect with all living things, Grandpa planted a tree. --Excerpt from Tilly's Tree Tilly and her tree grow through life together as Grandpa teaches Tilly to have compassion for all living things. One day, Tilly arrives home to find her Mom waiting to share the sad news that Grandpa passed on. Together, they find comfort under Tilly's tree. After a reflective summer under her tree, Tilly is awakened to the connections between all living things and to her own greater purpose, just as Grandpa had intended. Tilly grows up to become an arborist in a forest where she cares for many trees. She meets a special person in the forest that shares her connection to all living things. They marry under Tilly's tree. Moments before her ceremony: She closed her eyes and saw herself as a child there. She heard Grandpa's voice in the rustling leaves and felt his gentle kiss through the breeze on her cheek. Tilly heard her own laughter swirling through the branches above. She remembered the hours of quiet and stillness and those miraculous moments when she was awakened with an understanding that she was a part of everything that existed in the world. Tilly's heart opened wide from all the love and sacred gifts that had been shared under her special tree. --Excerpt from Tilly's Tree Sometime later, Tilly gives birth to a baby girl, and the story comes full circle to repeat this family's tradition of honoring the birth of a child.

When Tilly moves to a big, old house with her mum and dad, she can't wait to start exploring. There, deep in the garden, she finds a mysterious, hidden gate ... Led by a wild fox, Tilly discovers the magical secret that lies beyond the gate and nothing is ever quite the same again.

When Tilly's mum goes out to work, Mrs Hardcastle from up the street pops in to look after her. There are two special things about Mrs Hardcastle. The first thing is that she's always dropping off to sleep (she snores too, sometimes). The second special thing is that whenever she goes to sleep, something magic always seems to happen to Tilly Mint! Carnegie Medal winner Berlie Doherty's enchanting Tilly Mint tales are at last available in one complete collection with brand-new illustrations from Tony Ross.

Stephen Tilly was born in about 1782 in Wilkes County, North Carolina. His parents were Stephen Tilly and Jane Pettigrew. He married Rebecca King in about 1812 and they had seven children. Rebecca died in 1826 in Pendleton District, South Carolina. Stephen then married Elizabeth. Stephen died June 29, 1862 in DeKalb County, Georgia. Descendants and relatives lived in Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas and elsewhere.

Set in the diverse neighborhood of a big city, this poignant and universal story of friendship tells about two best pals who share everything together—even making up after a quarrel. “Children will recognize their own relationships in the ebb and flow of Matthew and Tilly’s friendship.”—Booklist “There can never be too many books about the importance of friendship and forgiveness—especially when they are of this caliber.”—Publisher’s Weekly “This modest story line swells with the visual excitement of Peck’s paintings. . . . Their power lingers in the mind long after they have been seen.”—School Library Journal

Robert J. Thompson's PANACEA explores the realms of mystery, murder, politics, relationships and humor; ultimately revealing the rewards of growing up selflessly. A lawyer himself, Thompson writes about a young Chicago attorney named Rick Morrissey who hopes to find a more fulfilling personal and professional life while on an extended vacation to the Florida panhandle where he spent his formative years. "Rick, like many single men his age, is a 31 year old man, in a 22 year old's body, with an 18 year old's psyche, holding everything worldly yet personally bankrupt because of his chosen lifestyle," says Thompson. The book follows Rick in his travels down south where he has a chance meeting with Delaney Chase, a young woman who never had a chance to be a child due to her difficult upbringing in the small town of Panacea, Florida. Although Delaney was raised right in the southern way, she is tormented by the mysterious death of her father in 1988's Hurricane Gilbert when she was 10 years old. Further complicating Delaney's childhood was her mother's daily battle with alcoholism and placement in a psychiatric institute due to mental illness and schizophrenia after her husband's death. Delaney's father, Pally Chase, had been a commercial fisherman and was well-known locally before his death. Not only did Pally have a fine reputation as a shrimper, he was also a formidable opponent to political and corporate oil giants as a political activist who fought oil drilling efforts off the Florida panhandle in the Gulf of Mexico, costing the oil industry millions of dollars. Rick learns of the strange circumstances surrounding the death of Delaney's father which happened immediately after Pally had successfully blocked oil drilling by the industry's juggernaut, Copperhead Oil Company. Delaney's entire life has been spent on the Florida panhandle, except for her perfunctory visits to see her mother in an Atlanta mental institute. Her fateful encounter with Rick sets the scene for a modern thriller, romance and, finally, closure over Pally Chase's death. Woven among the chapters are colorful, and often times humorous, characters of the current south who provide interesting twists to the story line, adding insight, discovery and mystery. "PANACEA is as timely as current headlines as politicians battle over the issue of oil drilling in the same Gulf region that provides the setting for this book," says Thompson. "It is laced with factual material discussing the authority for drilling in the Gulf of Mexico along with possible consequences that could result from such activity."