DescriptionThe Gypsy Madonna: What is her secret? Mischa knows what it is to be abandoned. His German father disappeared at the end of the war, leaving him and his mother to endure the hatred and contempt of all the French villagers; it was the two of them against the world. And his surrogate father vanished too, with no word of explanation. Mischa bears these scars into manhood. Only when his mother dies, revealing the existence of a priceless masterpiece, does he go on the trail of his own history. He makes a pilgrimage into the past, to that French village of his childhood, and there he uncovers the secret of the Gypsy Madonna.
DescriptionKen Foster never intended to adopt an abandoned dog. But after bringing Brando home, he notices how many homeless strays there are in the city. Suddenly, he sees them everywhere and finds himself unable to resist taking them home. But what he gains from them in return is far richer than his own expense. As he forms relationships with each new animal, Foster finds solidarity between their misfortunes and his own, and unfiltered companionship through some of life's biggest hardships: the shock of New York City after 9/11, the evacuation of New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina, and the day his heart nearly stopped for good.
DescriptionAn ordinary boy, a mysterious letter, a royal birth, a giant trout, a near-death experience, and an unexpected romance magically come together to create a touching and good-hearted novel about the search for self and the power of belief. Lewis lives in…
DescriptionLove and hope often arrive in the strangest places and in the strangest ways. During his tour of duty in Iraq, Lieutenant Colonel Jay Kopelman of the U.S. Marines endured the emotional stress common for those involved in bloody battles for freedom. Although the rules forbid pets, Kopelman and his comrades adopted an abandoned puppy left behind after the battle for Fallujah. The dog (named Lava) befriended the Marines and journalists, and was eventually smuggled out of Iraq by the soldiers with the help of NPR reporters, John van Zante and the Helen Woodward Animal Center, Iraqi citizens, and the Iams pet food company.
DescriptionSnowshoeing over crusted snow in the woods near their home, 12-year-old Nicky Dillon and her father come upon something shocking. There, in the pristine winter scene, an abandoned baby wails, its survival made possible only by the coincidence of their hav…
