Chrissy Rollings has a mountain of troubles to overcome, one that would crush most other girls her age.She was born in a small North Carolina town in 1952, into a poor but happy and loving family that always managed to scrape by each month… until the night her father died in a car crash, plunging the family into poverty. Chrissy’s mother is forced to take low-paying jobs to supplement her meager welfare checks, leaving Chrissy to raise her five siblings. But even these sacrifices are not enough.North Carolina was among the states to practice eugenics — forcing sterilization procedures on thousands of people deemed “unfit” to reproduce. When Chrissy’s mother was faced with the choice of having 14-year-old Chrissy sterilized or losing her welfare check, she makes the only choice she feels she can and signs the consent form. That act of survival sets into motion a series of events that shape the course of Chrissy’s life forever.Despite knowing in her heart that she did not deserve to be sterilized, that she was not in fact “unfit,” Chrissy struggles for the rest of her life with feelings of inadequacy, low self-esteem, and a belief that she doesn’t deserve to have anything good happen to her.Little by little, though, Chrissy claws her way past every obstacle, slowly building a new family of friends and eventually finding her soul mate, with whom she is reborn. With their support, she becomes a woman who is strong, loving, intelligent, and anything but unfit.Her gripping story is an inspiration for anyone who started life with little hope for the future, those who faced problems that felt insurmountable, or just anyone who ever felt “unfit.”

Unfit

Torgesen, Lara Cleveland

Literature & Fiction

Possibilities Publishing Company

Fishing for piranhas in the Amazon, getting stoned at Fijian kava ceremonies, and witnessing the ancient ritual of land diving on Pentecost Island is the stuff of National Geographic cover stories – and Nevin Martell’s childhood vacations. His family’s globetrotting took them from the South Pacific to South America and many points nowhere in-between. Though their lifestyle choices were eccentric, the locations they visited exotic, and the people they met extraordinary, these escapades are firmly grounded in the trials, tribulations, and tribal rivalries that plague all families. Freak Show Without a Tent is a grandly hilarious memoir-misadventure that is equal parts National Lampoon’s Vacation, Romancing the Stone and Crocodile Dundee.Woven seamlessly into the stories of exploring the far side of the far side, near death experiences and gastronomical catastrophes is the story of a young boy coming of age, the evolving relationship between a father and son, and a family discovering its own boundaries. With the honesty and innocence that can only come through the eyes of youth, Martell reveals the symbiosis of interdependence and independence that exist deep within both rainforests and families. To paraphrase a family motto: buy the ticket, take the ride, and hope you survive, so that you can tell your therapist all about it.

Freak Show Without A Tent: Swimming with Piranhas, Getting Stoned in Fiji, and Other Family Vacations

Biographies & Memoirs

Martell, Nevin

Community & Culture

THE answer to all of your questions about the pacifier and the thumb! "If your child is 'hooked' -- if you can't get that pacifier or thumb out of his mouth - then this informative and charming book is a worthwhile resource. I say this as a doctor, a journalist, and as the mom of a former 'pacifier addict'. It certainly is a must-read for every parent and care-giver." -Dr. Ranit Mishori, Contributing Health Editor, "Parade" Magazine Does your child have an obsession with the pacifier or thumb and crave it like you crave your morning coffee? If you are looking to make a clean break, this book will give you the solution. "Pacifiers Anonymous" is written by three moms whose full-time jobs are perfectly suited to this book: one is a medical doctor, one is a child psychologist, and one is a stay-at-home mom. The book takes a "from-the-trenches" approach with twelve easy steps to help your child kick the pacifier or thumb sucking habit for good. This book will finally answer your most pressing questions: • Is your child ready to ditch the thumb or pacifier? Know the surefire signs to watch out for. • What can you do instead? Discover the technique that's best for soothing your child. • What are the most popular techniques out there to get rid of the pacifier or thumb-and what really works? • Is it really so bad to use the pacifier? (Rest easy: there are actually some benefits!) • Did cave babies suck their thumbs? Learn the comforting truth about the history of pacifiers and thumb sucking.

Pacifiers Anonymous: How to Kick the Pacifier or Thumb Sucking Habit

Parenting & Relationships

Sexton, Dr. Sumi

Draper, Liza

Natale Andrew, Ruby

Parenting

*2016 Book Excellence Award Finalist!* Wissahickon Souls, fills a gap in American memory that marginalizes 19th-century African-American lives. Set in Philadelphia and Haiti during the years 1806 to 1836, Wissahickon Souls shows how a culture of racial prejudice contaminates the relationship of even well-meaning people. All the while, the Wissahickon Creek wends its way equally through the lives of blacks and whites. Claire Penniman is an improbable hero who defies racial expectations. Born to free black parents, she is indentured to Wissahickon Farm at the age of 6. From her birth in 1806 in the Germantown neighborhood of Philadelphia to the story’s end in 1836, Clair struggles to forge a future determined by the call of her soul rather than the color of her skin. Along the way, she confronts slave catchers, helps fugitive slaves, marries her indenture holder’s youngest son and with him, runs away to Haiti, where their marriage is accepted. After 10 years, in 1834 they return to a Philadelphia beset by riots and hate. Wissahickon Souls is a story of love, regret and reconciliation. The novel invites readers to walk alongside characters they come to know as friends. Though Claire’s world defines people by the color of their skin, Claire’s destiny is to bear witness to the truth that illuminates the color of souls.

Wissahickon Souls: A Wissahickon Creek Story (Wissahickon Creek Stories)

Devlin, PJ

Genre Fiction

The falcon-worshipping Austringers have been living just fine in their secluded world atop some pretty tall cliffs on a planet called Axis Solan. However, the planet is dying, and time is short for the last warrior prince to get home and warn the king of a treasonous plot and an imminent attack from their displaced northern enemy. But old horrors haunt the prince’s path, and unlikely heroes prove themselves worthy of a king’s gratitude. The story’s main action is a direct result of natural disasters that force societies to be at odds with each other. For the main character, it is also a coming-of-age story.

Last Flight Home

Science Fiction & Fantasy

J.B. Lawrence

Fantasy

After she meets nineteen-year-old Ishmael, Joni Byrnes stops caring about home, school, and swim team. Instead, she embraces Ishmael’s hippy lifestyle of music, pot, and Hermann Hesse. When she sells marijuana for Ishmael, Joni gains notoriety as Joni Juana — but her new found popularity ends in a bust.While Ishmael goes to prison, Joni avoids juvenile detention by agreeing to spend the summer of 1969 at Camp Saint Augustine of Hippo teaching inner-city black kids to swim.Joni arrives at camp with two joints stuffed in the pockets of her cutoffs. As the only white counselor, she’s greeted with: “You couldn’t find no crackers to save?”In a year marked by the Vietnam War, pressure for civil rights, the Manson Family murders, the first moonwalk, and three days of peace and music at Woodstock, Joni’s choices dictate her future. When the end of camp is only a week away, Joni’s decision to smoke a joint jeopardizes the respect she’s earned and the agreement that kept her out of juvie.BECOMING JONIKA is a gripping novel about coming of age during a time of cultural upheaval and re-imagination of the American dream. At its heart, it’s a story of alienation, acceptance, and accountability.

Becoming Jonika

This adult coloring book is both stress reliever and art. Original photography has been transformed into black and white sketches ready to be colored in by you in whatever way you choose. Let loose with bold swaths of color, contemplate a world in which polar bears are green and ducks are fuchsia.And then if you want to see how your vision compares to the original artwork, each images comes with a URL and a QR code you can scan with your smart phone or tablet to see the original photography. Each picture also comes with a brief story of the photograph’s origin.We designed this coloring book to bring a little light, a little levity, and a burst of color to your day. Honestly, at the end of our days, we need something relaxing. Something that feels like playing, that lets our minds + our hearts roam free. A time to get back to our wild, to our soul, to our spirit and wander free before diving back into our lives and all our obligations.

A Transforming Lens: Sketches from Photographs: An Adult Coloring Book

Ford, Tim

Religion & Spirituality

Savannah George has a plan for her life. It covers every detail, from where she lives (Washington, D.C.) to where she works (nonprofit) to whom she’ll marry (future senator). Everything is perfectly in sync — until she meets the sexy bartender with the rock-hard body, easy smile, and blue eyes she could get lost in for days.Colin Allison has never had to beg or manipulate a woman to spend time with him. In fact, he usually has more attention than he knows what to do with — until he meets Savannah, who refuses to acknowledge their chemistry because she thinks he’s “just a bartender.” Suddenly Colin finds himself in uncharted territory as he tries to convince Savannah that her plan needs to be rewritten. He just has to make her fall for him before she discovers the truth about him.

The Plan (Capitol Love Series)

Romance

Powers, Samantha

Contemporary

The outskirts of Philadelphia form the backdrop for this collection of captivating stories. A master crafter, Devlin weaves threads of emotions into patches of betrayal, regret and guilt, stitched together in the fabric of dreams. These stories resonate with the power of recognition and remembrance. Devlin’s characters may slip as they maneuver life’s torments, but their journeys through the unmapped terrains of their lives ultimately lead them to the refuge of acceptance and reconciliation.

Wishes, Sins and the Wissahickon Creek

Short Stories & Anthologies

“Crocodile” Charlie Kingmore has an urgent need to find the secret of unified teams, productive people, and human happiness at work. So he embarks on a quest. It’s that or give up on his dreams for his own success.If you work for a living, work with other people, or ever need to inspire and lead those around you, then Charlie’s journey for the answer can be your journey, too. Join authors John Kolm and Peter Ring, two of the world’s leading practitioners in productivity improvement, on Crocodile Charlie’s six-month quest around Australia to find real results.Share in the expertise of industry leaders such as Toyota, Alcoa, Pfizer, Cisco, Michelin, IBM, Hitachi, the Food and Drug Administration, and the State Department — all clients of John and Peter’s company Team Results USA and the basis of Charlie’s adventures. If you have tried all the mundane approaches and are still looking for something more, maybe it’s time you discovered…The Holy Grail.

Crocodile Charlie and The Holy Grail

Business & Money

Ring, Peter

Kolm, John

Management & Leadership

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