From the Publisher: It sounded at first like something out of an old horror movie. I thought maybe someone was just playing around, but then I heard it again and again, a loud piercing cry, and less like Hollywood every time. The windows were down in my police cruiser on that warm fall day, but I still couldn’t tell where the sounds came from. I began looking around for the unlikely sight of someone being disemboweled in a mall parking lot on a Saturday afternoon. Seeing nothing, and still hearing the screams, I called in a “disturbance.” Around the next corner I found the source of the commotion.

So begins Greg Lucas’s captivating account of life as a husband, a police officer, and Jake’s dad. Jake Lucas, the first of four children, lives with severe physical and mental challenges. Caring for him each day is an ordeal few of us can imagine, and this story of Jake’s first 17 years is not one you will soon forget. But the remarkable thing is how the whole narrative is saturated with wonder at the grace and goodness of God, who brings hope and promise through his Son into the darkest of circumstances.

In this book, we see that Jake’s problems are our problems, only bigger, and the challenges of caring for him carry profound lessons about God’s care for us. Wrestling with an Angel is about tragedy and laughter and pain and joy. It is about faith and grace and endurance and God’s unfailing, loving wisdom daily being worked out in each of our lives, whatever the nature or extent of our difficulties. Here is a book that may explain faith to you in ways you never quite grasped, through a life few of us can relate to. When it is all done, we come away better able to live as Christ calls us to live.

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About the Author: Greg Lucas is a husband, the father of four, a police officer in West Virginia, and a graduate of Boyce College.

From the Dust Jacket: All Emily Prager had at first was a blurred photograph of a baby, but it would be her baby—if she journeyed to China to pick her up.

in 1994, Emily brought Lulu, the baby girl chosen for her, back to America, and when Lulu was old enough, Prager was determined to honor her adopted daughter’s heritage by sending her to a Chinese school in New York City’s Chinatown. But of course there were always questions about Lulu’s past and the city of Wuhu, where she was born. And Prager herself had a special affinity for China because she had spent part of her own childhood there. So together, mother and daughter undertook a two-month journey back to Wuhu, a city on the banks of the Yangtze River in eastern China, to discover anything they could. But finding answers wasn’t easy, particularly when, the week after their arrival, the U.S. accidentally bombed the Chinese embassy in Belgrade.

Wuhu Diary is a story of the search for identity. It tells of exploring the new emotional bond that grows between a Caucasian mother and her Chinese child as they try to make themselves at home in China at a time of political tension, and of encountering—and understanding—a modern but ancient culture through the irresistible presence of a child.

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About the Author: Emily Prager is the author of three novels, Clea & Zeus Divorce, Eve’s Tattoo, and Roger Fishbite, as well as the acclaimed book of short stories A Visit from the Footbinder and a compendium of her humorous writings, In the Missionary Position. She has been a satirical columnist for The Village Voice, The New York Observer, Interview, and The New York Times, as well as London’s Daily Telegraph and The Guardian. She is a Literary Lion of the New York Public Library, and in 2000 she won the first Online Journalism Award for Commentary given by the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. Her books have been published in England, France, Germany, and Sweden, and next spring will appear in Lithuania and Israel.

She teaches humor writing at New York University, and lives in Greenwich Village with her family.

Thirty years after her death, Alice Eve Cohen’s mother appears to her, seemingly in the flesh, and continues to do so during the hardest year Alice has had to face: the year her youngest daughter needs a harrowing surgery, her eldest daughter decides to reunite with her birth mother, and Alice herself receives a daunting diagnosis. As it turns out, it’s entirely possible for the people we’ve lost to come back to us when we need them the most. Although letting her mother back into her life is not an easy thing, Alice approaches it with humor, intelligence, and honesty. What she learns is that she must revisit her childhood and allow herself to be a daughter once more in order to take care of her own girls. Understanding and forgiving her mother’s parenting transgressions leads her to accept her own and to realize that she doesn’t have to be perfect to be a good mother.

I am standing beside Sarah Anne’s bed in the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit. It’s all a little surreal. My tiny baby girl is in bed four by the window. Machines are humming and beeping. There are four other children, their families, and numerous staff. There is a constant buzz of activity. One of the nurses comes and stands beside me and puts her arm on my left shoulder. My immediate thought is, “That’s a little bit familiar, I don’t really know you.” But I don’t move away. I notice that the social worker has come to the foot of the bed. I glance at them but then look back to Sarah Anne, lying there quietly. Dr. Litz comes and stands at the other side of the bed. She clears her throat and she looks to the floor as she says, “Well there is no easy way to say this but we are fairly certain that your baby has cancer. We will know tomorrow when the test results are back. I am very sorry. We will do everything possible.” I am stunned. Cancer had not crossed my radar. I had not even thought it for one moment. I looked at my six-week-old daughter and my eyes started to leak. I took a deep breath and responded quietly to the doctor, “No, doctor. You will do everything reasonable, not everything possible.” Her head whipped up quickly and she looked relieved as she replied with a half smile, “We will get through this.” I have a flash of understanding—this is why the nurse and social worker are here—to help me as I hear this difficult news. We all speak for a few moments and then I decide to go for a walk. I need time. Time to sort out what I have just been told. Time to digest what is happening. My little baby has cancer! Anne Van Donkersgoed lives in Prince Edward Island, Canada, with her husband, Ed, and their three girls.

From the Back Cover: Hollywood’s most powerful woman, the mega-talented creator of Grey’s Anatomy and Scandal and executive producer of How to Get Away With Murder and The Catch, reveals how saying YES revolutionized her life.

As a self-described introvert with three hit shows on television and three children at home, Shonda Rhimes had plenty of reasons to say no. Then came Thanksgiving 2013, when Shonda’s sister Delorse muttered six little words at her: You never say yes to anything.

Those six words became a wake-up call—and a challenge. She committed, for one year, to say Yes. First came the terrifying public Yeses—delivering the commencement address at Dartmouth, and appearing on Jimmy Kimmel Live; then came the excruciating private Yesses—reevaluating her health, and confronting the damaging relationships in her life head on. But perhaps most difficult and meaningful of all were the Yeses that required her to explore, empower, applaud and love her truest self. With her trademark wit and wisdom, Shonda makes even “the tiniest epiphanies feel like revelations” (New York Times Book Review).

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About the Author: Shonda Rhimes is the critically acclaimed and award-winning creator and executive producer of the hit television series Grey’s Anatomy, Private Practice and Scandal and the executive producer of How to Get Away with Murder and The Catch. Rhimes holds a BA in English Literature and Creative Writing from Dartmouth College and received her MFA from the USC School of Cinema-Television. Born and raised in Chicago, Illinois, Rhimes now lives in Shondaland, a very real and very imagined place that could be somewhere inside Los Angeles. She’s the proud mother of three daughters.

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Compiler’s Note: Rhimes adopted her first daughter, Harper, in June 2002 and adopted another girl, Emerson Pearl, in February 2012. In September 2013, Rhimes welcomed her third daughter, Beckett, via gestational surrogacy.

I hope this book will help make a difference in the world. To do that I need your help. You need to read it and do what you can to help make a difference too. This book is about our eight kids and how our family got so large. It is about our ten years as foster parents. It is what life is like as the home schooling mom of eight. It is about the humorous situations that arise from having five boys all within a few months of each other. It is also about the changes that need to be made in the system to save the lives of the children still in it. So pitch in read my book and change the world a little.

From the Back Cover: The desire to love and raise a child is the single common denominator that unites all people considering adoption, whether you’re growing tired of fertility treatments, were married later in life and want to start a family, have decided that single parenting is something that would be right for you, or would simply like to add to your present family. Adoption expert Richard Mintzer has written the essential book on the process of adoption. Comprehensive and reassuring, Yes, You Can Adopt! combines the author’s own expertise with anecdotal advice from adoptive parents to help anyone who is considering adoption make well informed decisions.

This book examines every angle of every challenge potential adoptive parents face, including: choosing between a domestic or international adoption, a newborn or older child, working with an agency or adopting through independent placement. Key adoption questions are answered: For which families is open adoption the right choice? Where can a child be adopted by gay parents? How can adoption fraud be avoided? How will adoption affect a family’s finances? These questions and many others are answered with the credible information every parent-to-be needs.

• Filled with comforting and cautionary anecdotes about the adoption process from adoptive parents and insights into growing up from adult adoptees

• Discusses how to best evaluate adoption agencies and attorneys

• Even takes you through the home study process and estimating the budget needed to make adoption work for you

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About the Author: Richard Mintzer is a prolific journalist and author with twenty four non-fiction books to his credit, and bylines in American Baby, Parent Age, and Health & Money. He and his wife, Carol, are co-presidents of the New York City Chapter of the Adoptive Parents Committee, and he sits on the governing board of the four-chapter organization. For nine years, he was co-editor of Adoptalk. He has spoken on adoption at seminars and hosted New York City’s only weekly adoption related radio program. He lives in New York City with his wife and their two children.

From the Back Cover: From Adoptive Families magazine, the country’s leading resource on adoption, this warm, authoritative book is full of practical, realistic advice from leading attorneys, doctors, social workers, and psychologists, as well as honest, intimate stories from real parents and children. You Can Adopt answers every question—even the ones you’re afraid to ask:

• When should I shift from fertility treatment to adoption?

• How do I talk to my spouse about adoption?

• Can we find a healthy baby?

• Do I need an attorney? An adoption agency?

• Can the birth mother take the baby back?

• How much will this really cost? How long will it take?

• Aren’t all adopted children unhappy?

• Can I love a child who “isn’t mine”?

• How can I ease the rest of my family into this decision?

Complete with checklists and worksheets, You Can Adopt will help make your dreams of family come true.

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About the Author: Susan Caughman has edited and published Adoptive Families magazine and website since 2000. A longtime adoption advocate and journalist, she was a founder of Families with Children from China, the national parent support group, and a member of the board of directors of Adoptive Families of America. She is a former executive at Time, Inc., where she was responsible for the consumer marketing activities of a number of the company’s magazines.

Isolde Motley is the former corporate editor of Time, Inc., where she was responsible for the editorial content of its women’s magazines, including In Style, Real Simple, Essence, and Parenting. She is a former chief editor of Life magazine and the founding editor of both This Old House and Martha Stewart Living magazines.

“Why do you need more children?” their families asked. “We don’t,” they answered, “but maybe these children need a family.” Terssa and Doug Markworth have twenty-one kids. Some share their DNA, but most are adopted foster children. All are equally cherished. The challenges of family life were multiplied, sometimes to the point of despairing as to whether they as parents were making a difference in anyone’s life, but so too were the uncountable joys. They taught every child about Jesus and the Bible and ultimately had to leave the decision of salvation for each to make on his or her own. Of course, people often asked, “How do you do it?” Terssa’s immediate answer, in her head and heart, was, “God’s grace and a good dose of Prayer!” Facing criticism, she and her husband would return to their core value: “Are we trying to please men or please God?”

From the Back Cover: When Elizabeth was approved to adopt ten-year-old Lara, it was a dream come true. But Lara’s early life had been so abusive that her emotional damage was not easily healed, even though she was now in a loving home. By the age of twelve her behaviour was out of control and, unbeknownst to her mother, she had fallen prey to an abusive circle of older men.

For the next five years Elizabeth put herself in danger as she tried to rescue her daughter from these predators, while at the same time battling the authorities and trying to get the help Lara so desperately needed. She had no idea that, right under the noses of the police and social services, Lara was being exploited by Oxford’s ring of sex traffickers—drugged, manipulated and sold.

Deeply moving and inspirational, You Can’t Have My Daughter is the story of a mother determined to keep her promise to her child: “I will always be there for you, whether you want me to or not.”

From the Dust Jacket: In late 1984, Patricia and Loren Broadbent chose to adopt a baby girl named Hydeia, whom they had taken in as a foster child. Hydeia had been abandoned in the hospital at birth by a mother addicted to drugs, and Patricia and Loren were sure they could give her a better chance at life and provide her with the love, support, protection, and guidance that all children need and deserve. In the spring of 1988, however, when Hydeia was just a few months short of four, the Broadbents’ hopes for their child were put to the test when they learned that Hydeia had been infected with HIV at birth. Doctors predicted she wouldn’t live past her fifth birthday.

More than twelve years later, Hydeia is not only still here, but she is also an internationally recognized AIDS activist and, even more remarkably, a typical teenager. She is among the first generation of children with AIDS for whom science has changed the odds—the first generation for which adulthood is a possibility and not just a dream.

Writes Patricia Broadbent: “It would be easy to tell our story in clichés about miracles and hope, tragedy and the ‘innocent’ victims of the epidemic. I know, too, how easy it is to view Hydeia, myself, and our family as somehow ‘special.’ The truth is, however, we are a family just like any other. I am no stronger or braver than any other mother who loves her child.”

You Get Past the Tears is the story of a disease for which there is still no cure. But this is also the story of a family living with AIDS, a mother who did everything in her power to defy that first hopeless prognosis, and a young woman who continues to inspire millions with her courage and determination.

“I want to show everyone that the struggle is worth it, that life is for living,” writes Hydeia. “AIDS can change a lot of things about your hfe, but it can’t change the person you are inside. You deserve happiness, love, and respect. Don’t ever forget that, and don’t let anyone try to tell you different. This is still your world, too.”

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About the Author: Patricia Broadbent has been a longtime advocate for children, having held positions with the Boys Club, the Girls Club, and Campfire Girls, among others. She is a former social worker and a former board member of Members and Advocates for Minority Adoption (MAMA). She is an AIDS activist and mother of six: Kendall, Paige, Kim, Keisha, Trisha, and Hvdecia.

Hydeia Broadbent is an internationally known AIDS activist who speaks across the country and has appeared on many television shows, including Oprah and 20/20. In 1999 Hydeia received an Essence Award in recognition of her efforts on behalf of AIDS.

Patricia Romanowski is the coauthor of twenty-three books, including three national bestsellers, the acclaimed OASIS Guide to Asperger Syndrome, and Helping Your Kids Cope with Divorce the Sandcastles Way. Her credits include cowriting Donny Osmond’s Life Is What You Make It: My Story So Far.

This handbook is designed to prepare persons with disabilities for the adoption process along with agency and Internet adoption resources. As a woman with a disability you may feel that adoption is not really an option for you, because you fear that adoption agencies will discriminate against you on the basis of your disability. Dealing with adoption eligibility criteria can be frustrating, burdensome, time-consuming and intrusive. Indeed, some adoptive parents question whether eligibility criteria should exist at all. Women with significant disabilities attempting to adopt need to be prepared to address a wide range of barriers that they might encounter and decide ahead of time how strongly they feel about their decision to adopt. To be successful with the adoption option may mean being prepared to deal with a variety of barriers. It also includes extensive information about your rights under the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act).

Scott Starkey and his wife Jennifer were determined after marrying that their household should never grow beyond the two of them—and however many dogs and cats occupied the premises at the time—when, in 2004, a chance encounter with a television program called “China’s Lost Girls” set in motion a series of events that eventually led them to China and a thirteen-month-old little girl—their precious daughter Hope—in August, 2010. You’ve Come a Long Way, Baby: A China Adoption Story is a poignant, heartfelt, and frequently humorous chronicle of one couple’s emotional adoption journey, including the decision to adopt, persistence through years of waiting, an anxiety filled two-week “adventure” in China where they met their little girl for the first time, and the challenges faced along the way. More importantly, it’s a unique look at family, and what it really means to make one.

Her book is a must for all who have adopted or been adopted; for all who feel rejected because of differences of race, birth or talents; for all with social cares. Those who like a good story, well told, about real life, will enjoy this book.

Your Amazing Newborn celebrates a baby’s extraordinary abilities in the first hours and days of life. Marshall and Phyllis Klaus take parents and all those who care for new families into this freshly charted world, one they have been exploring for decades. The results of their fascinating research are illuminated by over 120 exquisite photographs, all of babies less than two weeks old. Your Amazing Newborn begins before birth with images of fetuses actually comforting themselves in the womb. We then see newborns less than one hour old crawling unassisted to the breast, recognizing the voices of their parents, and shutting our unwanted sights and sounds. Parents will learn how to discover an infant’s clear preferences for certain shapes, smells, tastes, and tones of voice. They will be delighted by the ways babies seem to be able to ensure their own survival, and they will be amazed that within days after birth, newborns can engage in an intimate and reciprocal choreography, and nestle into a parent’s embrace as though they had practiced for years. Your Amazing Newborn is a must for parents-to-be, grandparents, siblings, and caregivers; through its stunning photographs we see the first reach, the first mutual gaze—and most wonderful of all—the first spark of recognition that ignites a lifetime bond. Includes a chapter on “The Newly Adopted Baby.”

Adoption Training for Parents and Professionals. This training looks closely at the emotions your child holds, their roots and what you can do to positively address feelings. Visit our website at www.AdoptionTrainingOnline.com for information about Certified Training for The Hague International Adoption requirements and Continuing Education Credits for Professionals.

From the Publisher: Adopting a child is quite commonly done nowadays. It is no longer a rare occurrence to find families that have at least one child in the family that is not biologically the parents’ own. Those who are in the know say that the good thing about adopting a child is that you can choose what kind of child you want to have. This is not altogether bad; experts even say that it is advantageous to both the adopted child and the adoptive parents so that the deliberate choice of the child ensures its absolute acceptance into the new family. In fact, the very first question you will hear people ask when you start into the adoption process is: “What kind of child would you want to adopt?”

If you’ve never been a parent before and would like to experience the reality of it all, then experts suggest that you should go ahead and adopt an infant. Toddlers can be delightful if they can attach to you easily. One vital factor to consider is that there will be underlying issues to tackle as they grow up with you.

If you have children of your own but you feel you are being led to adopt a child into your family, experts suggest that it would then be best if you choose a child from an older age group. To smoothen out the transition process for all, you as the parent will be advised to study firsthand what normal behavior are for a child in that particular age group.

Every age group can be a wonderful experience. There will be many joys and pains throughout each phase regardless of what age group you want to adopt from.

From the Publisher: As an adoptive parent, or someone considering adoption, you are making a leap of faith into a world of endless joys and challenges. A world of mystery and awe. A sacred world. When you adopt a child, hearts open. Deep feelings are stirred. Things happen that leave you shaking your head in wonder. Everyone is touched by something magical, something bigger than all of us. Many call it God. Others call it spirit, or the holy, or the divine. Others have no name for it, but they know it’s present. This guided journal will help you capture and preserve everything about this wondrous time. Simple phrases will prompt you to remember, to record, and to savor your most important memories and experiences at every step along the way, leaving you with a treasured keepsake for you and your child. This book will serve as a perfect guide for any parent(s) adopting a child of any age, through a domestic or international adoption. It also serves as a valued gift for anyone at any stage of the adoption journey.

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About the Author: Kevin Quirk helps people of all ages preserve their life stories as a writer, interviewer, editor, and publishing coach through Memoirs for Life (memoirsforlife.com). An adoptive father, he is the author of Hello, Aibek! and Not Now, Honey, I’m Watching the Game. He lives in Charlottesville, VA.

From the Publisher: This is the second book in our Marie Alexander prose poetry series. In Your Sun, Manny, Marie Harris has created a prose poem memoir that reveals in touching detail her story of adopting and caring for Manny, a child who was abused and neglected until he was fourteen, when Harris and her husband made him a part of their family.

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About the Author: Marie Harris is the author of three volumes of poetry and editor of several anthologies of poetry and literary essays. Her travel articles have appeared in newspapers and magazines ranging from the New York Times and Boston Globe to American Cemetery and Corvette Fever. She has worked as poet-in-residence in elementary and secondary schools throughout New England. She has served on the New Hampshire State Council on the Arts and is a Trustee of the Barrington Public Library. Marie Harris and her husband, Charter Weeks, are partners in Isinglass Studio, a business-to-business advertising agency.

From the Back Cover: Yours by Choice has long been recognized as an essential guide for all concerned with the adoption of children. This recently revised edition has been completely up-dated to take into account the many changes that have occurred on the adoption scene in recent years. Jane Rowe leads would-be adopters along the whole complex route and discusses, with sensitivity and frankness, all the difficult questions facing people hoping to adopt today. The book not only deals with the adoption of babies but also considers in detail the problems and rewards of adopting older children or children with mental or physical handicaps. Miss Rowe’s sympathetic style and extensive practical knowledge combine to make this an invaluable handbook for parents and professional workers alike.

A new Introduction has been written by Phillida Sawbridge, Director of Parents For Children.

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About the Author: Jane Rowe has wide experience in child welfare services in both Britain and the United States and has had a particular interest in adoption for many years.

After taking an honours degree at Cambridge, she trained for social work at Bedford College, London University, and the London School of Economics. From 1966 to 1978 she was director of the association of adoption agencies now known as British Agencies for Adoption and Fostering. She was a member of the Departmental Committee on Adoption whose report formed the basis for the Children Act 1975.

At present Jane Rowe is doing research into foster care. She is the author of two other books, Parents, Children and Adoption, a handbook for adoption workers and Children Who Wait which is a research study on children in long-term care.

Share the triumphs, tragedies, losses and love of Midlife Mothers—women choosing motherhood over age 40 for the first, repeat or last time. The Zen of Midlife Mothering celebrates the heartbreak and glory of new midlife mothers, and of those standing firmly in place as mothers now in mid-life. In this increasingly popular trend of new older parenting, these women do not share a collective consciousness like many of their younger counterparts, but rather a rainbow of disparate and diverse voices representing a vast array of ages, life circumstances and personal perspectives. This book features the depth, breadth and beauty of well-known and established midlife mother-writers, up-and-coming writers, and those just finding their voice(s). We include a handful of fathers as a nod to this increasingly popular trend of “Mr. Moms,” and those choosing fatherhood at an age previously enjoyed during retirement. In the end, the perseverance, conviction, willpower, guidance, determination and a breaking down of all obstacles—financial, spiritual, emotional, physical and psychological—just to become mothers, prevails—all in the name of motherhood, family and love.

In our culture, pregnancy, birth, and childrearing are deeply connected to consumption and resource use. From the baby shower to the minivan and the larger apartment or first house, the baby-raising years are the most hyper-consumptive of our lives, and can set a family on an unsustainable track for years to come. The Zero Footprint Baby: How to Save the Planet While Raising a Healthy Baby shows how to raise a child with little to no carbon footprint. This timely book covers every issue new parents face, including pregnancy (what kind of birth has the lowest impact?); what to feed your baby (breastfeed, formula, or both?); childcare (who should take care of the baby, and how?); and of course, diapering. Using a mix of personal anecdotes, summarized research, and clear guidance on how to pursue the most sustainable baby-rearing options, environmental expert and new mom Keya Chatterjee has authored the ultimate resource for all new parents with green inclinations.