The push for students to excel at school and get into the best colleges has never been more intense. In this invaluable new book, thebestselling co-author of Raising Cain addresses America’s performance-driven obsession with the accomplishments of its kids–and provides a deeply humane response. “How was school?” These three words contain a world of desire on the part of parents to know what their children are learning and experiencing in school each day. Children may not divulge much, but psychologist Michael Thompson suggests that the answers are there if we know how to read the clues and–equally important–if we remember our own school days. School, Thompson reminds us, occupies more waking hours than kids spend at home; and school is full not just of studies but of human emotion–excitement, fear, envy, love, anger, sexuality, boredom, competitiveness. Through richly detailed interviews, case histories, and student e-mail journals, including those of his own children, Thompson illuminates the deeper psychological journey that school demands, a journey that all children must take in order to grow and develop, whether they are academic aces or borderline dropouts. Most of us remember this journey, if we are honest with ourselves, but our children must experience it in their own way, for better or worse. In stories that are by turns poignant, shocking, uplifting, and inspiring, we see students grapple with the textured reality of their lives, devising their own unique strategies to survive and thrive in school. For parents, this book reveals the hidden emotional landscape of the school day and points toward the answers we both desire and dread as we seek to help our children find success in school and beyond. Bridging the worlds of the growing and the grown-up, and told in Thompson’s compassionate voice as both psychologist and father, The Pressured Child shows us how to listen for the truth of our children’s experience–and how to trust, love, and ultimately let go of a child. It is a crucial book for our stressful age–and an ideal resource for families struggling to survive it.

The Pressured Child: Helping Your Child Find Success in School and Life

Thompson Ph.D., Michael

Barker, Teresa

Health, Fitness & Dieting

Ballantine Books

From the New York Times bestselling co-author of Raising Cain, It’s a Boy! is the first major parenting book to chart every stage of a boy’s life. This upbeat, authoritative, and reassuring guide–written by psychologist Michael Thompson, Ph.D., a leading international expert on boys’ development, and journalist Teresa H. Barker–shows how a boy’s inner life progresses through infancy, childhood, and adolescence. What do boys actually need? How exactly does a healthy boy look and act? It’s a Boy! has the answers, providing expert advice on the developmental, psychological, social, and academic life of boys from infancy through the teen years. Exploring the many ways in which boys strive for masculinity and attempt to define themselves, Dr. Thompson identifies the key developmental transitions that mark a boy’s psychological growth and emotional health, and the challenges both boys and parents face at each age. • Expecting a Boy: how our deeply held hopes, fears, and family histories shape our expectations of boys and our parenting techniques • Baby Boys (birth to 18 months): falling in love with your son, healthy attachment, trust, and temperament • Toddler Years (18 months to 3 years): boys on the go, bold steps, blankies, budding language, and rambunctious physicality • Powerful Little Boys (ages 3 and 4): superhero ambitions, penis play and potty talk, learning to manage the force of his anger, and celebrating the power of the boy group • Starting School (ages 5 through 7): developmental cues for school readiness, transitional challenges, girl cooties and boys-only play, tough talk, tender hearts, and first friends • Boys on a Mission (ages 8 through 10): striving for mastery in sports, screen games, and boy society, organizing the boy brain for school success, and glaring academic gender gaps • The Preteen (ages 11 through 13): puberty, posturing and popularity, the culture of cruelty, hidden sensitivity, and stoic silence in the middle school years • Early High School (ages 14 and 15): the secret life of boys, powerful peer groups, sexuality, school strategies, the shift away from Mom (she knows too much), and yearning for Dad’s respect and attention • On the Brink of Manhood (ages 16 through 18): the quest for independence, sex, love, driving, drinking, and other choices and challenges of life Practical, insightful, wonderfully engaging, and filled with instructive true stories any parent of a son will recognize, It’s a Boy! is the definitive guide to raising boys in today’s world, revealing with humor, compassion, and joy all the infinite varieties of boys and the deep and profound ways in which we love them.

It's a Boy!: Understanding Your Son's Development from Birth to Age 18

Psychology & Counseling

Raising Cain: Protecting the Emotional Life of Boys

Kindlon Ph.D., Dan

Mental Health

Random House Audio |

Martha, Mary Magdalene, John the Baptist, Satan, and Jesus are key figures in this 1950s good-versus-evil suspense allegory of Christ's beginning ministry. Twists, turns, and suspense make a preacher's murder mystery chilling. A tantalizing murder mystery filled with chilling explorations of hypocrisy, true faith, and small-town secrets. It's about sin and redemption. It's about the search for truth, in both the physical and spiritual realms. And it's all wrapped up in a puzzle that keeps even skeptics on their toes. Underneath it all is an allegory of Christ's ministry. "I highly recommend The Parchman Preacher short in length, but deep in meaning, I could hardly put this book down." -Linda Lacour Hobar, author of The Mystery of History series. "Michael Thompson has brought to life the Mississippi of my youth, complete with small town scandals, murders, prison, and the powerful southern female. Sit back, put your feet up, and enjoy a glass of sweet tea and a romping good tale." -Carolyn Haines, author of the on-going Sarah Booth Delaney mystery series.  "If you love southern gossips and party lines and communal mail, you'll feel right at home in Solo, Mississippi biblical in its proportions, with a revolving Episcopal pulpit, a moonshine-swilling postmaster and a murdering villain. Jesus, Martha, Mary, John the Baptist, Satan-what a place." -Rheta Grimsley Johnson, author of Enchanted Evening Barbie & the Second Coming, and other books.  "In The Parchman Preacher, Michael Thompson has written a true southern story of tragedy, darkness, and destiny with unpredictable twists and turns and genuine characters that provide comic relief in the midst of malevolent schemes a page turner we loved it." -Janet and Reverend John Sartelle, author of What Christian Parents Should Know About Infant Baptism.  "The Parchman Preacher penetrates the facades of southern cultural Christianity to take us to the true gospel There is no Savior but Jesus and no salvation from the judgment of God but faith in Christ alone." -Richard L. Pratt, Th.D. theologian, author of several books, including Designed For Dignity: What God Has Made It Possible For You To Be, and founder of Third Millennium Ministries, Orlando, FL. Clarion Review Twists, turns, and suspense make a preacher's murder mystery chilling. A tantalizing murder mystery filled with chilling explorations of hypocrisy, true faith, and small-town secrets. The Christian faith colors his work, which is an allegory inspired by the ministry of Christ. It's about sin and redemption. It's about the search for truth, in both the physical and spiritual realms. And it's all wrapped up in a puzzle that keeps even skeptics on their toes.(for the complete review, visit www.michaelthompsonauthor.com) Diane Gardner September 25, 2013 ForeWord Clarion Reviews

The Parchman Preacher: A Christian Suspense Novel

Mystery, Thriller & Suspense

Mystery

Balboa Press

Mother and Father Koala don t like the pandas ears, and don t trust the polar bears. In fact, they don't approve of any of the bears that are different from them. But all their grumpiness melts away when they see their little bears playing happily with the other little bears. They realize that their similarities far outweigh their differences. The Other Bears is an eloquent tale about tolerance and acceptance. Now available in Portuguese/English.

The Other Bears (Portuguese and English Edition)

Children's Books

Animals

Star Bright Books

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