Recommendations based on "Western Lane A Novel"

Sula and Nel are two young black girls: clever and poor. They grow up together sharing their secrets, dreams and happiness. Then Sula breaks free from their small-town community in the uplands of Ohio to roam the cities of America. When she returns ten years later much has changed. Including Nel, who now has a husband and three children. The friendship between the two women becomes strained and the whole town grows wary as Sula continues in her wayward, vagabond and uncompromising ways.

Teri, Maxine and Bird are as different as three sisters could be. Teri is beautiful and practical, a successful lawyer who has no patience for dreamers. Maxine is a happy, loving wife and mother, but wonders if she is doing anything important with her life. Bird, the youngest, runs a thriving business, while her husband, an ex-con, can't seem to buy a break.As widely varied as they may be, all three come together to visit their mama's home every Sunday, working to put Mother Joe's delicious soul food on the table.But when Mother Joe takes ill suddenly, her family starts to fall apart at the seams. It is up to Ahmad, Maxine's young son, who has always shared a special bond with his grandmother, to show his aunts, uncles and parents how to find the heart and soul of their extraordinary family before it is lost forever.A movie from 20th Century Fox starring Vanessa Williams and Vivica A. Fox

Her name is Dinah. In the Bible, her life is only hinted at in a brief and violent detour within the more familiar chapters of the Book of Genesis that are about her father, Jacob, and his dozen sons. Told in Dinah's voice, this novel reveals the traditions and turmoils of ancient womanhood--the world of the red tent. It begins with the story of her mothers--Leah, Rachel, Zilpah, and Bilhah--the four wives of Jacob. They love Dinah and give her gifts that sustain her through a hard-working youth, a calling to midwifery, and a new home in a foreign land. Dinah's story reaches out from a remarkable period of early history and creates an intimate connection with the past. Deeply affecting, The Red Tent combines rich storytelling with a valuable achievement in modern fiction: a new view of biblical women's society.

An interactive storybook featuring more than one hundred shiny stick-on "jewels" allows young readers to help Queen Josephine find a use for her colorful gems while building counting, color, and shape recognition skills.

The Earth does not belong to us. We belong to the Earth. The great American Indian Chief Seattle spoke these words over a hundred years ago. His remarkably relevant message of respect for the Earth and every creature on it has endured the test of time and is imbued with passion born of love of the land and the environment. Illustrated by award-winning artist Susan Jeffers, the stirring pen-and-color drawings bring a wide array of Native Americans to life while capturing the splendor of nature and the land. Children and parents alike will enjoy the timeless, poignant message presented in this beautifully illustrated picture book."Together, Seattle's words and Jeffers's images create a powerful message; this thoughtful book deserves to be pondered and cherished by all." (Publishers Weekly )Illustrated by Susan Jeffers.

The language and images of Carolyn Forché's poetry are so closely bound to the natural cycles of the seasons, of generations, of the body's functioning, that it is surprising to realize how many of her poems deal with uprootedness--hasty emigrations from Czechoslovakia and Kiev, the loss of grandparents and other elders, people leaving and being sent away. But this poetry is not a sentimental celebration of the goodness of nature, and harmony with the world is never something assumed. The harmony Forché seeks goes deeper than simple submission to natural processes or identification with an ethnic group, and it must be fought for with a tenuous faith, the balance that must be found between the ugliness, the harshness of her history--both natural and social--and its intense beauty, is what distinguishes Forché's poetry, gives it is depth and dimension.

According to legend, Sacajawea—the Native American woman who helped guide the Lewis and Clark expedition through the American wilderness—is buried on the Wind River Reservation. Now, a college professor—and longtime friend of Arapaho attorney Vicky Holden—has disappeared while seeking the truth behind the legend.Vicky and Father John O’Malley soon discover that her missing friend is linked to another female historian who also vanished on the reservation—while researching Sacajawea twenty years ago. The answer to the mystery of the missing scholars may lie in the pages of Sacajawea’s hidden memoirs—and with a culprit who will do anything to ensure they’re never found…

The Bean Trees is bestselling author Barbara Kingsolver’s first novel, now widely regarded as a modern classic. It is the charming, engrossing tale of rural Kentucky native Taylor Greer, who only wants to get away from her roots and avoid getting pregnant. She succeeds, but inherits a 3-year-old native-American little girl named Turtle along the way, and together, from Oklahoma to Tucson, Arizona, half-Cherokee Taylor and her charge search for a new life in the West.Written with humor and pathos, this highly praised novel focuses on love and friendship, abandonment and belonging as Taylor, out of money and seemingly out of options, settles in dusty Tucson and begins working at Jesus Is Lord Used Tires while trying to make a life for herself and Turtle. The author of such bestsellers as The Lacuna, The Poinsonwood Bible, and Flight Behavior, Barbara Kingsolver has been hailed for her striking imagery and clear dialogue, and this is the novel that kicked off her remarkable literary career.This edition includes a P.S. section with additional insights from the author, background material, suggestions for further reading, and more.

Born to British parents from families with a tradition of service in India and China, Kaye's "conversation" is rich with recollections of a carefree childhood in British-governed India (The Raj) and of a more restricted adolescence in school at "home"--In drab England so far from her real home and from her beloved father and social butterfly of a mother. This rag-bag of exotic and mundane scraps (a metaphor that Kaye establishes in the foreword) spills forth palpable scenes of family and folklore, of friendships and of memorable events.

Written as a letter from a Zimbabwean mother to her daughter, a student at Harvard, J. Nozipo Maraire evokes the moving story of a mother reaching out to her daughter to share the lessons life has taught her and bring the two closer than ever before. Interweaving history and memories, disappointments and dreams, Zenzele tells the tales of Zimbabwe's struggle for independence and the men and women who shaped it: Zenzele's father, an outspoken activist lawyer; her aunt, a schoolteacher by day and secret guerrilla fighter by night; and her cousin, a maid and a spy.Rich with insight, history, and philosophy, Zenzele is a powerful and compelling story that is both revolutionary and revelatory--the story of one life that poignantly speaks of all lives.