Most Popular Books by Elena

Elena Gorokhova's A Mountain of Crumbs is the moving story of a Soviet girl who discovers the truths adults are hiding from her and the lies her homeland lives by. Elena's country is no longer the majestic Russia of literature or the tsars, but a nation struggling to retain its power and its pride. Born with a desire to explore the world beyond her borders, Elena finds her passion in the complexity of the English language—but in the Soviet Union of the 1960s such a passion verges on the subversive. Elena is controlled by the state the same way she is controlled by her mother, a mirror image of her motherland: overbearing, protective, difficult to leave. In the battle between a strong-willed daughter and her authoritarian mother, the daughter, in the end, must break free and leave in order to survive.

Through Elena's captivating voice, we learn not only the stories of Russian family life in the second half of the twentieth century, but also the story of one rebellious citizen whose curiosity and determination finally transport her to a new world. It is an elegy to the lost country of childhood, where those who leave can never return.

PUCKED

by: Helena Hunting, Lauren Schmelz, Jen Matera

***The 1st standalone novel in The Pucked Series***

With a famous NHL player for a stepbrother, Violet Hall is well acquainted with the playboy reputation of many a hockey star. So of course she isn't interested in legendary team captain Alex Waters or his pretty, beat-up face and rock-hard six-pack abs. When Alex inadvertently obliterates Violet's misapprehension regarding the inferior intellect of hockey players, he becomes much more than just a hot body with the face to match.

Suffering from a complete lapse in judgment, Violet discovers just how good Alex is with the hockey stick in his pants. Violet believes her night of orgasmic magic with Alex is just that: one night. But Alex starts to call. And text. And email and send extravagant—and quirky—gifts. Suddenly, he's too difficult to ignore, and nearly impossible not to like.

The problem is, the media portrays Alex as a total player, and Violet doesn't want to be part of the game.

Is God Always with Me? (Little Blessings)

by: Crystal Bowman, Elena Kucharik

These delightful new additions to the Little Blessings line help young children understand two more basic truths about God and Jesus. Why Is There a Cross? tackles the difficult subject of Christ's death. This read-to-me book for children ages 3–6 explains both the how and the why of Christ's death in simple words and pictures that communicate the wonder of his sacrifice. Is God Always with Me? introduces children ages 3–6 to the idea that God is a part of their everyday lives. This read-to-me book with beautiful illustrations and pleasant rhyming verses conveys the comforting truth that God is with us wherever we go, no matter what.

Birthday Blessings (Little Blessings)

Birthdays are big when you're little. So here's a little book of big fun celebrating every kid's special day. This fourth board book in the best-selling Little Blessings line is full of rhythm and rhyme from the talented Dandi Daley Mackall. Plus every page turn brings a colorful splash of adorable illustrations by Care Bears artist Elena Kucharik. Birthday or no, armed with this book, parents and grandparents are guaranteed to make a friend--and a memory!

Christmas Blessings (Little Blessings)

The Little Blessings characters enjoy the sights, smells, and sounds of the season in this new holiday board book. Discover family fun, childlike wonder, and the true Christmas blessing-- Jesus. A great new addition to the popular Little Blessings line for children ages 0-5.

Promises For Little Hearts (Little Blessings)

by: James C. Galvin, Elena Kucharik

A collection of inspiring Bible passages that parents can share with their children.

Tales from Japan (Oxford Myths and Legends)

by: Helen, William McAlpine, Rosamund Fowler

Full of magic and wonder, these are tales of wicked giants and fairy children, beautiful princesses and fearless warriors. This extraordinary collection of stories from Japan are lively retellings of legends and fairy tales that include the great story of the creation of the world and the tale of a magical coat that makes people invisible. Meet the Sea Spirit, the Moon God, the Emperor Kiyomori, Dragon Princess and many other magical characters. Here, too, are folktales of woodcutters and fisherman who enter strange, enchanted worlds. This delightful mix of stories joyfully evokes the beauty and culture of Japan: its people, its animals, and its landscape. (Reissue of Japanese Tales and Legends, 0-19-274140-3)

Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay: Neapolitan Novels, Book Three

The incredible story continues in book three of the critically acclaimed Neapolitan Novels!

Since the publication of My Brilliant Friend, the first of the Neapolitan novels, Elena Ferrante's fame as one of our most compelling, insightful, and stylish contemporary authors has grown enormously. She has gained admirers among authors—Jhumpa Lahiri, Elizabeth Strout, Claire Messud, to name a few—and critics—James Wood, John Freeman, Eugenia Williamson, for example. But her most resounding success has undoubtedly been with readers, who have discovered in Ferrante a writer who speaks with great power and beauty of the mysteries of belonging, human relationships, love, family, and friendship.

In this third Neapolitan novel, Elena and Lila, the two girls whom readers first met in My Brilliant Friend, have become women. Lila married at sixteen and has a young son; she has left her husband and the comforts her marriage brought and now works as a common laborer. Elena has left the neighborhood, earned her college degree, and published a successful novel, all of which has opened the doors to a world of learned interlocutors and richly furnished salons. Both women have attempted are pushing against the walls of a prison that would have seen them living a life of misery, ignorance and submission. They are afloat on the great sea of opportunities that opened up during the nineteen-seventies. Yet they are still very much bound to each other by a strong, unbreakable bond.

Filipino Children's Favorite Stories

by: Liana Elena Romulo, Joanne de Leon

Filipino Children's Favorite Stories presents thirteen well-loved myths and tales from the Philippines. These stories will enchant six to ten year old readers around the world with their wit and charm. Many of the tales have been transmitted from mother to child over centuries, and cover classic childhood themes-such as the forces of good triumphing over evil, children rebelling against adults and the weak prevailing over the strong. Narrated with an international audience in mind and illustrated with whimsical watercolors by award-winning artist Joanne de Leon, this is a must-have collection of tales for anyone interested in the Philippines.

The Children's Favorite Stories series was created to share the folktales and legends most beloved by children in the East with young readers of all backgrounds in the West. This book, which shares stories and myths from the Philippines, includes favorites such as:

Why Mosquitoes Buzz Around Our Ears
The Magic Lake
The Deer and the Snail
Why the Cock Crows
The Prince's Bride

Who Made the World? (Little Blessings)

Little Blessings question books help young children understand basic truths about the Christian life. Perfect for ages 3-6, Who Made the World? addresses questions such as: How long did it take? and What did you make first? Scriptures that support each answer are provided in the back of the book. Parents can use this book as a fun tool to answer questions their little ones may have about God's world.

God Loves You (Little Blessings)

Kids ages 0-5 will love learning about God's unconditional love through the fun rhymes and cute pictures of the Little Blessings characters. With solid content from Kathy Bostrom and the endearing art of the Care Bears artist, this chunky board book will entertain young children as they learn that God loves them just the way they are-no matter what!

What Is God Like? (Little Blessings)

Featuring the charming Little Blessings characters by Elena Kucharik, What Is God Like? uses questions asked by children ages 3 to 6 to answer fundamental questions about who God is and what he is like.

Franklin's Big Search-and-Solve Flap Book

by: Jelena Sisic, Shelley Southern, Sean Jeffrey

In this Franklin Activity Book, kids can use clues and lift flaps to help Franklin solve the mystery of the berry bandit!

The One Year Devotions for Preschoolers (Little Blessings Line)

by: Crystal Bowman, Elena Kucharik

Watch your young children grow in their understanding of God as you meet with him together using this One Year devotional. Each reading pairs a Little Blessings illustration with a short Bible verse and devotional thought that gets you and your child talking about the simple truths of Scripture. A fun, rhyming prayer completes each devotional. A great way to get young children interacting with Scripture daily.

I'm Not Afraid Series: Don't Cry, Lion!

Don't Cry, Lion! -the story of a timid lion sent into a den with a "bully" lion. Then a man named Daniel gets thrown into the den. (Fear of others, as a bully.)

These books from Dandi Mackall help parents teach Christian-based coping skills when handling childhood fears. Engaging art that captivates children. Full-color illustrations that will evoke warm, fuzzy feelings of comfort. Text is incorporated into the art through strong design. Each title deals with a fear common to pre-schoolers. Mackall uses familiar Bible stories to show children how to deal with these fears by turning to God for help.

Little Lost Donkey (I'm Not Afraid Series)

Little Lost Donkey -Mary & Joseph's donkey overcomes fear of getting lost when he finds the stable for the Christ Child. [Fear of getting lost]

Who is Jesus? (Little Blessings)

The Little Blessings characters by illustrator Elena Kucharik return for the second book in the Questions from Little Hearts series, Who Is Jesus? This book of full-color contemporary illustrations for three- to six-year-olds contains questions that kids might ask about Jesus. Each answer is worded as if Jesus himself were speaking and is based on what Scripture teaches us about God's Son.

God Created Me! (Little Blessings)

Most baby books begin when a baby is born, but this one begins when the world was born-from creation, to mom and dad, to baby. There is space to record how mom and dad met, and what they were like as kids. There's even a family tree. With helpful charts and plenty of space for photos, this baby book will be treasured forever. The acid-free pages are safe for photos and beautifully designed with Little Blessings artwork throughout.

Thank You, God! (Little Blessings Line)

Preschoolers will enjoy pictures of God's creation as they learn to thank him for all he has made. The delightful art and rhyming text keep little ones engaged as they develop grateful hearts.

My Brilliant Friend

A modern masterpiece from one of Italy's most acclaimed authors, My Brilliant Friend is a rich, intense, and generous-hearted story about two friends, Elena and Lila. Ferrante's inimitable style lends itself perfectly to a meticulous portrait of these two women that is also the story of a nation and a touching meditation on the nature of friendship.

The story begins in the 1950s, in a poor but vibrant neighborhood on the outskirts of Naples. Growing up on these tough streets the two girls learn to rely on each other ahead of anyone or anything else. As they grow, as their paths repeatedly diverge and converge, Elena and Lila remain best friends whose respective destinies are reflected and refracted in the other. They are likewise the embodiments of a nation undergoing momentous change. Through the lives of these two women, Ferrante tells the story of a neighborhood, a city, and a country as it is transformed in ways that, in turn, also transform the relationship between her protagonists, the unforgettable Elena and Lila.

Ferrante is the author of three previous works of critically acclaimed fiction: The Days of Abandonment, Troubling Love, and The Lost Daughter. With this novel, the first in a tetralogy, she proves herself to be one of Italy's great storytellers. She has given her readers a masterfully plotted page-turner, abundant and generous in its narrative details and characterizations, that is also a stylish work of literary fiction destined to delight her many fans and win new readers to her fiction.

The Story of the Lost Child

“Nothing quite like this has ever been published before,” proclaimed The Guardian newspaper about the Neapolitan Novels in 2014. Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay, the third book in the series, was an international best seller and a New York Times Notable Book of the Year. Its author was dubbed “one of the great novelists of our time” by the New York Times Book Review. This fourth and final installment in the series raises the bar even higher and indeed confirms Elena Ferrante as one of the world's best living storytellers.

Here is the dazzling saga of two women, the brilliant, bookish Elena and the fiery uncontainable Lila. In this book, both are adults; life's great discoveries have been made, its vagaries and losses have been suffered. Through it all, the women's friendship, examined in its every detail over the course of four books, remains the gravitational center of their lives. Both women once fought to escape the neighborhood in which they grew up—a prison of conformity, violence, and inviolable taboos. Elena married, moved to Florence, started a family, and published several well-received books. But now, she has returned to Naples to be with the man she has always loved. Lila, on the other hand, never succeeded in freeing herself from Naples. She has become a successful entrepreneur, but her success draws her into closer proximity with the nepotism, chauvinism, and criminal violence that infect her neighborhood. Yet somehow this proximity to a world she has always rejected only brings her role as unacknowledged leader of that world into relief. For Lila is unstoppable, unmanageable, unforgettable!

Against the backdrop of a Naples that is as seductive as it is perilous and a world undergoing epochal change, this story of a lifelong friendship is told with unmatched honesty. Lila and Elena clash, drift apart, reconcile, and clash again, in the process revealing new facets of their friendship.

The four volumes in this series constitute a long remarkable story that readers will return to again and again, and, like Elena and Lila themselves, every return will bring with it new discoveries.

Four starred reviews for Book 3 in the series
14 best-of-the-year appearances for Book 3

The Story of a New Name

The second book, following last year's My Brilliant Friend, featuring the two friends Lila and Elena. The two protagonists are now in their twenties. Marriage appears to have imprisoned Lila. Meanwhile, Elena continues her journey of self-discovery. The two young women share a complex and evolving bond that brings them close at times, and drives them apart at others. Each vacillates between hurtful disregard and profound love for the other. With this complicated and meticulously portrayed friendship at the center of their emotional lives, the two girls mature into women, paying the cruel price that this passage exacts.

The Adventures of Caroline: and the Time Machine

by: Eric Oberst, Manoj Bhargav, Elena Oberst

Follow Caroline as she travels through time on wild and fantastic journeys in search of her long lost parents. Join her as she encounters a Woolly Mammoth, comes face to face with T-Rex, and rides a giant sea horse! Will she find her parents? Come join the adventure and find out!

Wishes Stitches & Dishes: Bundle of Family Fun

by: Selena Robins, Maddie Ryan

A bundle of fun for the whole family to enjoy.

PIPPY's WISH is a fun, humorous, inspirational read for all ages.
TEMPTED BY AN ANGEL is a comedy of errors short story for the adults.
DELICIOUS DISHES, a recipe book filled with over 100 tasty and easy to make recipes to enjoy with family and friends.

PIPPY'S WISH features a tween Angel-in-Training. Pippy is quirky, mischievous, lovable and enchanting. She can't wait to graduate, earn her wings and become a cool teen Angel. Although she sometimes makes mistakes she relies on her ingenuity and humor to yank her out of trouble.

Except this time, it's gotten her INTO trouble.

Big trouble.

Can Pippy solve this one on her own?

***

In TEMPTED BY AN ANGEL, Angelica Montgomery and Matt Lockwood are victims of un-synchronized mishaps.

Matt hired entertainment for his five-year-old nephew's birthday party.

Instead, Angel showed up, carrying a bouquet of balloons, wearing killer heels, and flaunting a body that Matt described as heavenly–except her attitude was anything but angelic.

Unfortunately for Angel, life doesn't have auto-correct.

***

DELICIOUS DISHES for the whole family.

Appetizers/Snacks
Soup
Craving Carbs
The Main Event
Bodacious Breads & Pizza
Crock Pot Meals
Holiday Deliciousness
Enchanting Cookies & Cakes
Purple Dreams
Succulent Desserts
Let's Have a Drink

“Selena Robins' plots are deliciously fun. Full of antics and compromising situations. She does an excellent job blending humor into her romance with an undercurrent of mystery.” ~New York Times & USA Today Best Selling Author, Kimberley Troutte

“I love Selena's funny, sexy and suspenseful characters, plots, and the way she writes the characters' emotions. It made me an insta-fan of Selena's work, and whatever she writes in the future, I'll be sure to buy. ~USA Today Best Selling Author, Cari Quinn.

“Selena Robins brings supreme wit, honesty and amazing characterization to all her writing. If you love novels with laugh-out-loud humor and fully-realized, in-depth characters you can't go wrong with Selena Robins.” ~Multi-Published, Award Winning Author, Denise Agnew

The One Year Devotions for Preschoolers 2: 365 Simple Devotions for the Very Young (Little Blessings)

by: Carla Barnhill, Elena Kucharik

The One Year Devotions for Preschoolers 2 uses the Little Blessings characters to help children through easy-to-understand devotions. Each reading pairs a Little Blessings illustration with a short Bible verse and devotional thought that gets you and your child talking about the simple truths of Scripture. A fun, rhyming prayer completes each devotional. This book is a great way to get young children interacting with Scripture daily to learn of God's wonderful promises and timeless truths. Previously published as Blessings Every Day.

Robotics (Cool Science)

by: Helena Domaine

Exhale: (Breathe Book 3)

by: Elena Dillon

Reviews for Exhale:

“I couldn't out it down! So I think Elena Dillon needs to stop writing books that keep me up all night! Ok, not really, please, please, don't stop writing! I am totally in love with all these characters, I can't get enough of them!”

“This book was amazing...suspenseful with a romantic flare with just the right amount of familial hi jinx. I couldn't put the book down. Read it within a day on downloading. I cannot wait to see what happens next in the Breathe series. I am thrilled to have discovered another gifted writer to entertain and thrill me.

“Another unputdownable romantic suspense book in the Breathe series! Elena Dillon has s true talent for weaving a wonderfully clean yet suspenseful romance that will keep you mesmerized from the first word to the last.”

Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls

by: Elena, Francesca Cavallo Favilli