Reading List

Families of Two
Carroll, Laura (2009)

Families of Two takes us into the lives of fifteen childfree couples and provides important answers to many of the questions faced by couples who are in the midst of deciding whether or not to have children, and those couples who have already made the decision to be 'childfree'.

The Beautiful Struggle
Coates, Ta Nehisi (2009)

A lyric, hip-hop, poetic epic that is honest. A father raising two children, sons, and teaching them the road to manhood.

Act Like A Lady, Think Like A Man
by Steve Harvey (2009)

Steve Harvey, the host of the nationally syndicated Steve Harvey Morning Show , can't count the number of impressive women he's met over the years, whether it's through the " ...  

When My Parents Forgot How to Be Friends
Malinos, Jennifer Moore (2009)

Great book for youths to cope with family situations and parents divorcing. This book is very educational and beneficial for young children and teens.

Young children become confused and hurt when their parents constantly argue, then decide to divorce. Parents are advised to read these books aloud while their preschooler listens and looks at illustrations of the boys and girls in each story. Many children in early grades will be able to read the stories for themselves. Tell Somebody Books encourage children to explore their feelings, and then to speak openly about things that trouble them.

The Bond
Davis, Sampson et al. (2008)

The Bond: Three Young Men Learn to Forgive and Reconnect with Their Fathers

A Father's Law
Wright, Julia (2008)

I Got Your Back
Levert, Eddie et al. (2007)

Love & Respect
Eggerichs, Emerson, Dr. (2004)

In Daddy's Arms I Am Tall
Steptoe (Illustrator)(2001)

Not Becoming My Mother: And Other Things She Taught Me Along the Way

Grandparents as Parents

More than a million grandparents in the US today are the only care providers for their grandchildren. The book Grandparents as Parents covers everything a grandparent in this situation needs to know in order to cope with the practical, day-to-day needs of raising a child today. Co-authored by the founder of the national support group" Grandparents as Parents" (GAP) and a veteran journalist, and covering the broad range of issues associated with the personal and social aspects of raising grandchildren, the book is also an important resource for all mental health professionals who work with this burgeoning population.

A Framework for Understanding Poverty
Payne, Ruby K. (2007)

Dr. Payne describes for us: How poverty impacts learning, work habits and decision-making. Whether you're an educator-or a social, health or legal services professional-this breakthrough book gives you practical, real-world support and guidance to improve your effectiveness in working with people from all socioeconomic backgrounds.

Bridges Out of Poverty
Payne, Ruby K. (2007)

This second book by Dr. Payne, I strongly encourage you to read it as well.

It's Not That Complicated
Peine, Doug (2002)

This book provides guidelines for raising confident and happy children.

There is no me without you
A novel of tragedy and hope set in AIDS-torn Ethiopia. When Haregwoin Teferra’s husband and daughter died within a few years of each other, her life is shattered and she becomes a recluse. But then a priest delivers an orphan to her door. The another, and another... and together they thrive.

Special Education Law

From Emotions to Advocacy

The Complete IEP Guide

A Parents Guide to Special Education

Dog Years: A Memoir
Doty, Mark (2008)

When Mark Doty decides to adopt a dog as a companion for his dying partner, he brings home Beau, a golden retriever. A moving and intimate memoir interwoven with profound reflections on our feelings for animals and the lessons they teach us about life, love, and loss.

The Family Orchard
Eve, Nomi (2000)

A multigenerational saga encompassing two hundred years in the life of an unforgettable family set in Jerusalem, from the early years of the nineteenth century to the present.

Family Matters
Mistry, Rohinton (2002)

Mistry evokes laughter and tears as he spins the great wheel of human life and charts the soul's confusion and the body's decline, the endless cycle of repeated mistakes and failures of heart, and, yes, the radiant revelations of love.

The Family Tree
Delinsky, Barbara (2005)

At once nostalgic and refreshingly original, The Family Tree is a sophisticated story of one woman and the generations of women who came before her and whose legacy shaped her life and its emotional landscape.

Doghead: A Novel
Ramsland, Morten (2009)

From a fiercely funny Danish John Irving, a bighearted, epic story of mad dogs, naughty boys, strange relatives, and family secrets.

A Family Daughter
Meloy, Maile (2006)

From the award-winning author of Half in Love and Liars and Saints, a riveting story of love, sex, secrets, guilt, and forgiveness.

Family and Other Accidents
Goldhagen, Shari (2006)

A finely nuanced, universally resonant portrait of the ties, however strange or awkward, that bind two brothers and their families together through the decades.

Love in the Driest Season: A Family Memoir
Neely Tucker

Against a background of war, terrorism, disease and unbearable uncertainty about the future, this story of how a foreign correspondent and his wife fought to adopt a Zimbabwean baby emerges as an inspiring testament to the miracles that love and dogged determination can sometimes achieve. Don't miss this gripping memoir.

The Hemingses of Monticello
Annette Gordon-Reed

This epic work tells the story of the Hemingses, an American slave family whose close blood ties to our President Jefferson had been systematically expunged from American history until very recently.

Children are from Heaven
John Gray

Children do not need to be motivated by fear of punishment. Instead, they can easily be motivated by reward and the natural, healthy desire to please their parents.

How to Behave so your children will, too
Dr. Sal Severe

Children learn what they live...your children do as you do." Instead of focusing on what children do wrong, this book teaches parents what they can do right.

Puppet Child
Talia Carner

When the justice system fails her daughter, one courageous mother takes matters into her own hands. In a wrenching race against time, the safety of one child becomes entangled in the theatrics of Family Court, bottled-up family dynamics, media frenzy, and the pressure of the political machine.

Wedlock
Wendy Moore

Moore resurrects history from dry names and dates, and vividly recreates this eerily familiar era with a historian's love for detail and a storyteller's passion for a good yarn.

The Amateur Marriage
Anne Tyler

A rich and compelling novel about a mismatched marriage—and its consequences, spanning three generations.

Maps for Lost Lovers
Nadeem Aslam

Beautifully written, emotionally and sensually arresting—"a Persian love poem for the twenty-first century" —this deeply felt and moving novel explores the heart of a family at the crossroads of culture, nationality, religion, and the most personal crises of faith.