"Tom Putnam, an English professor at a Virginia women's college, has resigned himself to a quiet and half-fulfilled life. For more than ten years, his wife Marjory has been a shut-in, a fragile and frigid woman whose neuroses have left her fully dependent on Tom and his formidable mother-in-law, Agnes Tattle. Tom considers his unhappy condition self-inflicted, since Marjory's condition was exacerbated by her discovery of Tom's brief and misguided...

"From the author of the PEN/Faulkner winning debut novel Preparation for the Next Life--a searing, tender, haunting story about fathers and sons, sons and mothers, and a young boy's struggle to become a man. Corey Goltz is fifteen years old when his mother, Gloria, is diagnosed with ALS. Estranged from his father, and increasingly responsible for meeting both his mother's needs and his own, Corey is determined to be the hero Gloria needs --at any...

After harvesting an especially large "tear" of a resin known as myrrh, a young boy and his father visit a spice merchant whose three customers are seeking a special gift to bring to a baby. Includes biblical references and historical information about the Magi and myrrh.

After receiving a sweepstakes letter in the mail, a cantankerous father thinks he's struck it rich, and wrangles his estranged son into taking a road trip to claim the fortune. Getting waylaid in the father's hometown in Nebraska, the son tries to reconnect with his impenetrable father.

"Nico Storm and his father Willem drive a truck filled with essential supplies through a desolate land. They are among the few in South Africa -- and the world, as far as they know -- to have survived a devastating virus which has swept through the country. Their world turned upside down, Nico realizes that his superb marksmanship and cool head mean he is destined to be his father's protector, even though he is still only a boy. But Willem Storm,...

Eight-year-old Archie Morningstar, his taxi driver dad, and a talking cat named Pockets are on an intergalactic mission to save an underwater planet in peril.

"Eight-year-old Archie Morningstar, his father, and the talking cat Pockets travel to a planet that closely resembles medieval Earth in order to rescue a princess from the clutches of the intergalactic criminal organization B.U.R.P"--

Harrison is a boy who loves life and likes to share with others, but as he grows older the people around him are finding that he stands too close and maybe hugs a little too much--until his father teaches him the Space Saver rhyme, a method for determining just the right amount of space to leave between himself and others.

Little Bird loves learning new words and sharing them with his friends, so when he realizes that his latest one is a bad word, he knows just what to say to set things right.

To prevent the Mayan gods from battling each other and destroying the world, thirteen-year-old Zane must unravel an ancient prophecy, stop an evil god, and discover how the physical disability that makes him reliant on a cane also connects him to his father and his ancestry.