Ocean State Libraries

"Narrator Jack and his mother, who was kidnapped seven years earlier when she was a 19-year-old college student, celebrate his fifth birthday. They live in a tiny, 11-foot-square soundproofed cell in a converted shed in the kidnapper's yard. The sociopath, whom Jack has dubbed Old Nick, visits at night, grudgingly doling out food and supplies. But Ma, as Jack calls her, proves to be resilient and resourceful--and attempts a nail-biting escape." --...

"Little Sal and Little Bear both lose their mothers while eating blueberries and almost end up with the other's mother." --

"At bedtime, a little llama gets scared after his mother puts him to bed and turns out the light, so he goes downstairs where Mama puts it all right."--

"Following up her instant New York Times bestseller, A Flicker in the Dark, Stacy Willingham delivers a totally gripping thriller about a desperate mother with a troubled past in All the Dangerous Things. One year ago, Isabelle Drake's life changed forever: her toddler son, Mason, was taken out of his crib in the middle of the night while she and her husband were asleep in the next room. With little evidence and few leads for the police to chase,...

A mother and daughter plant a rainbow of flowers in the family garden.

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • Revelations about a seemingly ordinary mother force her adult children to reexamine their lives in this “absorbing novel about family secrets” (The Dallas Morning News).
Laura Bartone anticipates her annual family reunion in Minnesota with a mixture of excitement and wariness. Yet this year’s gathering will prove to be much more trying than either she or her siblings imagined. As...

When Faith, the seven-year-old daughter of divorced parents, suddenly begins talking to God--whom she claims is a woman--and effecting miraculous cures, she becomes the center of a controversy involving doctors, clergy, the media and a custody battle.

"Sensible thirty-six-year-old Sophie Anderson has always known what to do, but when her husband announces that he's leaving her for another woman, Sophie realizes she has no idea what's next. Impulsively renting a guest cottage on Nantucket from her friend Susie Swenson, Sophie rounds up her kids, Jonah and Lacey, and leaves Boston for a quiet family vacation, minus one"--

Illustrations and rhyming text portray a young bear searching for its mother and meeting many North American animals along the way in this easy-reader version of the 2007 tale. Includes note to parents and teachers, as well as activities.

Llama Llama becomes overwhelmed as Christmas preparations progress, until his mother reminds him of the real gift the holiday brings.