When rodeo champion Cody Gunner returns to Colorado Springs, he has no intention on keeping his deathbed promise to his beloved wife--to love again. But when his concern for his brother Carl takes him to the Independent Learning Center, he sees how much Carl and his fellow Down syndrome students are progressing. He also notices their teacher Ellie Downs, who glows with such infectious joy and inner beauty that he almost forgets their philosophical...

"Palmer's classic teaching manual builds on the simple premise that good teaching cannot be reduced to technique but is rooted in the identity and integrity of the teacher. Good teaching takes myriad forms but good teachers share one trait: they are authentically present in the classroom, in community with their students and their subject. They possess "a capacity for connectedness" and are able to weave a complex web of connections between themselves,...

Feeling at the top of her game when she is suddenly diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's disease, Harvard psychologist Alice Howland struggles to find meaning and purpose in her life as her concept of self gradually slips away.

Professor Jeremy Logan is brought onto famed explorer Porter Stone's archaeological team to investigate a series of harrowing and inexplicable occurrences that are causing people on the expedition to fear a centuries-old curse behind Pharoah Narmer's elusive "double" crown of the two Egypts. As paranoia and fear run rampant, Logan must delve into the mysteries of ancient Egyptology and near death experience in order to understand what might be plaguing...

Relegated to the status of schoolteacher and friendly neighbor after abandoning her dreams of becoming an artist, Nora advocates on behalf of a charismatic Lebanese student and is drawn into the child's family until his artist mother's careless ambition leads to a shattering betrayal.

"In the Midst of Winter begins with a minor traffic accident--which becomes the catalyst for an unexpected and moving love story between two people who thought they were deep into the winter of their lives. Richard Bowmaster--a 60-year-old human rights scholar--hits the car of Evelyn Ortega--a young, undocumented immigrant from Guatemala--in the middle of a snowstorm in Brooklyn. What at first seems just a small inconvenience takes an unforeseen and...

Loving their gifted teacher, three boys are dismayed when the teacher falls ill and leaves for the rest of the school year, a situation that compels them to share their stories while cutting class and journeying across town together on a fateful day.

"If not for her loving but controlling parents, Beth Prudhomme might never have taken charge of her life and moved from her native Chicago to Portland, Oregon, where she has reconnected with her spirited Aunt Sunshine and found a job as a high school music teacher. If not for her friend Nichole Nyquist, Beth would never have met Sam Carney, although first impressions have left Beth with serious doubts. Sam is everything Beth is not--and her conservative...

Miss Daisy's unusual teaching methods surprise her second grade students, especially reluctant learner A.J. Miss Daisy, who teaches second grade, doesn't know how to add or subtract. Not only that, she doesn't know how to read or write either. She is the dumbest teacher in the history of the world! In fact, all the grown-ups at A.J.'s school seem to have something wrong with them. What's going on here? What are A.J. and the kids in his class going...