Discover practical strategies to make reading aloud a meaningful family ritual. The stories we read--and the conversations we have about them--help shape family traditions, create lifelong memories, and become part of our legacy. Reading aloud not only has the power to change a family--it has the power to change the world. But we all know that connecting deeply with our families can be difficult in our busy, technology-driven society. Reading aloud is one of the best ways to be fully present with our children, even after they can read themselves, but it isn't always easy to do. Discover how to: Prepare your kids for academic success through reading to them Develop empathy and compassion in your kids through books Find time to read aloud in the midst of school, sports, and dinner dishes Choose books across a variety of sibling interests and ages Make reading aloud the best part of your family's day The Read-Aloud Family also offers age-appropriate book lists from infancy through adolescence. From a toddler's wonder to a teenager's resistance, you will find the inspiration you need to start a read-aloud movement in your own home.

Despite a recent increase in the productivity and popularity of Indigenous playwrights in Canada, most critical and academic attention has been devoted to the work of male dramatists, leaving female writers on the margins. In Indigenous Women's Theatre in Canada, Sarah MacKenzie addresses this critical gap by focusing on plays by Indigenous women written and produced in the socio-cultural milieux of twentieth and twenty-first century Canada. Closely analyzing dramatic texts by Monique Mojica, Marie Clements, and Yvette Nolan, MacKenzie explores representations of gendered colonialist violence in order to determine the varying ways in which these representations are employed subversively and informatively by Indigenous women. These plays provide an avenue for individual and potential cultural healing by deconstructing some of the harmful ideological work performed by colonial misrepresentations of Indigeneity and demonstrate the strength and persistence of Indigenous women, offering a space in which decolonial futurisms can be envisioned. In this unique work, MacKenzie suggests that colonialist misrepresentations of Indigenous women have served to perpetuate demeaning stereotypes, justifying devaluation of and violence against Indigenous women. Most significantly, however, she argues that resistant representations in Indigenous women's dramatic writing and production work in direct opposition to such representational and manifest violence.

Perfect for fans of Susan Mallery and Jill Shalvis, two mothers - one pregnant, one sending her child to college - form an unlikely friendship, finding love, hope, and a new start at life in this charming, laugh-out-loud read. Single mum Renee Rhodes seems like a woman who has it all together. But now that her daughter is away at college, she doesn't know what to do next. What she is sure of is that she probably shouldn't be crushing on her new boss, who couldn't possibly be interested in a middle-aged mum.... Sadie Landry is drowning in the stay-at-home mum life. With a toddler running wild, a husband who is growing more distant by the day, and a mother-in-law who has a comment on every-little-thing, Sadie is one mummy-and-me class away from losing it. Sadie knows that something has to change for the sake of her family - and her sanity. After a birthday party disaster, Renee comes to her neighbour Sadie's rescue with comfort, competence and a killer pie recipe. With their unlikely friendship and a newly hatched plan to open a bakery, can Sadie and Renee finally have the lives they've always dreamed of?

Sun, sand and starting over . . . this summer, they're following their hearts

Bree Rhodes and Jill Kelly have been best friends since kindergarten. When Bree survives a cancer scare, the knitting shop assistant takes it as a sign to step out of her comfort zone . . . or at least take a few tentative tiptoes. But in no time she's in over her head with a hot architect, a new puppy and a shot at buying her dream inn. And the harder she tries to stay afloat in her new normal, the harder it is to hold onto her friendship with Jill who seems to be ebbing away.

While her best friend is living her best life, art boutique owner, Jill, is simply trying to live. Still struggling after a freak motorcycle accident took the life of her husband, Jill doesn't know how to start over -- or if she even wants to. Life isn't easy as a young widow, especially when she's hiding a painful secret. But when she learns that the fairytale Maine cottage she'd once dreamed of buying with her husband is on the market, she has to decide whether she's ready to let go of the past and to write a new chapter. But the only way to really heal is by revealing to Bree a truth that will either destroy their friendship forever or bring them closer together.

Fans of Jill Shalvis, Susan Mallery and Robyn Carr will love this charming, relatable, laugh-out-loud women's fiction read about letting go of the past, taking a chance on love and embracing life under the summer sun.