Las Animas - Bent County Library District

A look at the parents of the American presidents, full of facts and anecdotes as well as psychological profiles based on Wead's findings. He analyzes the types of families into which our presidents were born, and sheds a fascinating light on how their destinies were shaped during childhood. Using papers and letters, as well as private conversations and interviews with six presidents and first ladies, Wead focuses on the early life of George Washington;...

From the New York Times columnist, a portrait of a family and the cycles of joy and grief that mark the natural world: "Has the makings of an American classic." —Ann Patchett
Growing up in Alabama, Margaret Renkl was a devoted reader, an explorer of riverbeds and red-dirt roads, and a fiercely loved daughter. Here, in brief essays, she traces a tender and honest portrait of her complicated parents—her exuberant, creative mother;...

"The story that captivated a nation: how a horribly neglected little girl was rescued by her loving adoptive parents. In July 2005, a six-year-old girl named Danielle was removed from her Florida home after authorities found her living in bug-ridden squalor, subjected to horrific neglect and so damaged by her own mother that recovery seemed hopeless. But hope was waiting for Dani and help. In October 2007, Bernie and Diane Lierow, a hard-working couple...

"What happens when life doesn't turn out like you planned? Mother of three adopted children--two with Down syndrome--Heather Avis learned that it's truly the lucky few that recognize God's plan is best, even when it is radically different from the plan we have ourselves. Your life may be uncomfortable and messy but you can be among the lucky few" -- provided by publisher.

In moving and refreshingly candid prose, Rescuing Julia Twice tells Trasters foreign-adoption story, from dealing with the bleak landscape and inscrutable adoption handlers in Siberia, to her feelings of inexperience and ambivalence at being a new mother in her early forties, to her growing realization over months then years that something was "not quite right" with her daughter, Julia, who remained cold and emotionally detached. Why wouldn't she...

The actress reveals her struggle growing up as a gay woman in a strict Catholic family until the age of eighteen, when her father discovered the truth about her sexuality and revealed that he too was gay, leading them to live their double lives together without their family's knowledge.

For Leigh Anne and Sean, it all begins with family. Leigh Anne, the daughter of a tough-as-nails U.S. Marshal, decided early on that her mission was to raise children who would become "cheerful givers." Sean, who grew up poor, believed that one day he could provide a home that would be a "a place of miracles." Together, they raised two high-spirited children who shared their deep Christian faith and their commitment to making a difference. And then...

"Smith brings together a mix of travel and relationship, western history and family history, human love and animal love centering one the two-week journey she and her dog Bruno took in her car to visit her mother. Her meditations, triggered by place, explore how the past impinges on the present"--Provided by publisher. "Dogs, like humans, have memories, instincts, fears, and loyalties. But, as far as we know, dogs do not get swept up in nostalgia,...

"Tori makes up stories all of the time, so she has never lived in just one world. Those stories might just save her when her world seems to crumble." --