The Portal

This is the story of Robert Pearson’s perilous encounters with a time portal. Robert begins his journeys as a twelve-year-old boy in 1955. During a blizzard, he discovers the portal as a means of escape. The catch is that while the portal saves Robert’s life in different time periods, it also always places him in jeopardy in another.

Whenever Robert enters a new time period, it feels as though he’s lived there all his life; in most of them, he holds a position of authority. It seems that every place the portal transports Robert to is a potential trap. At times, Robert communicates with the portal, which is some kind of entity composed of both energy and matter, fluttering in and out of reality. While the portal never forces Robert to enter, it always leaves him with the same choice: flee or die.

In the hospital, Robert tells everyone about his experiences, but no one believes him. However, the portal has dealt Robert an “Ace” that he doesn’t yet realize he holds.

Collecting Coconuts

“Great and terrible can mean the very same things. Yet, I now understand both.”
–Keiba

Some people pray for rain. Others pray for it to go away.

Anne Lu’akanitz, Hawaiian and Jewish by blood, finds herself amidst both prayers in the Hurricane.

Will she find her family? Her friends? The science and plants she dearly loves amidst the island? Some people seek research. Some breathe it.

Haki Lindsgren, Swedish and American by blood, seeks both in the high tops of Aconcagua Mountain ranges amidst a snowstorm. He has a research partner, but where is she?

Will he find her? Will he finish his research? Or die trying?

How do they both fare?

“The trees quit dripping long enough to hear the silence.”
– Anne.

Shift

Sean is a modern-day hero in the year 2087 – but in his own time, few would recognize it. Most of his work takes place in the past. As a time-traveling agent, he corrects historical wrongs. However, when his latest mission fails to take hold, he and his team are tasked with uncovering why. What they discover goes far beyond fixing the company’s accounting books. They begin to unravel a shift of power that threatens their present.

How far back in time will Sean have to go to set things right? The rules of time travel are designed to protect the agents themselves, but when the past holds what Sean cherishes most, what rules will he break to protect it?

Hershey the Sweetest Dog Ever

Meet Hershey, the sweetest dog ever!

This heartwarming story follows a lovable, kind, and playful pup who teaches us valuable life lessons about patience, acceptance, and kindness. His unconditional love for both his furry friends and his human family is truly priceless.

Hershey may be a dog, but the lessons he shares are cherished by all who know him. Everyone who meets him falls in love!

Snuggle up and enjoy this delightful tale of love, friendship, and the joy a special pet can bring.

Swinging Grandma

A not so typical grandmother moves in with her daughter’s family and changes their lives. Her high demands, although funny at times, make for an entertaining story.

Her daughter tries to change her mom day after day. Even the holidays are challenging. She eventually succumbs to her mother’s wishes. She comes to realize that some things are not as important as others.

This fun filled story is based on reality and is entertaining for all ages.

A Children's Guide to Story Yoga

A Children’s Guide to Story Yoga is a fun and playful way for teachers and parents to engage children with mind-body movement, while they gain confidence in their own bodies. Using sequenced yoga postures and storytelling, this book brings in early methods of SI (Somatic Intelligence), using mindfulness as a natural way of everyday life. The mindful poses and stories used in the book have been created with sequenced instructions, with a short story about the pose or the character used in the pose.

The Great New Freedom State: How Five Nutcase Geeks Saved the World

This is a story of humanity’s future. Can we find remedies and resources to mend our often mismanaged world? Why do humans struggle to get along? What makes us worthy of heaven? These profound questions rest in the hands of five extraordinary teenagers, just 13 and 14 years old, who take on the challenge of creating a better world modeled after the visionary Great New Freedom State.

Dubbed ‘Geeks’ by their peers, these brilliant young minds are guided by a wondrous God spirit known as ‘Fa.’ Endowed with divine insight, they embark on a mission to devise a plan that could restore the earth to its pristine state.

Faced with the consequences of humanity’s past mistakes – the depletion of resources and the extinction of countless species – these unlikely heroes must find ways to replenish the planet’s bounty. Their journey is a testament to hope, ingenuity, and faith.

May God bless those who love the world, and may God bless the Great New Freedom State.

Musa

Regarded as the wealthiest man to have ever lived with an estimated wealth of 400 billion dollars in today’s money, Mansa Musa’s life is shrouded in mystery and legend. Known for his lavish journey to Cairo, where he gave away so much gold that the Egyptian economy was ruined for decades, not much is known about Mansa Musa; until now.

Musa: Mansa of Mali spans fifty years of political and familial turmoil of the famed West African ruler. A ruler that had an executioner on hand at all times. A ruler that annexed smaller kingdoms, forcing them to pay taxes or into slavery. A ruler who removed his brother from the line of succession and placed his ill-prepared son on the throne upon his death. These facts create a narrative of a different Musa of popular culture, but of a ruler who ruled with absolute authority and held on to power by any means necessary.

A story that crosses from the banks of the Niger River in the Malian Empire capital, the busy streets of Cairo, to the rolling hills of the newly formed Ottoman Empire. Musa: Mansa of Mali weaves historical facts and speculation into a story laden with assassination and coup attempts. Loveless marriages that are politically necessary, and consequential decisions that have an impact for generations to come.

A Handbook for Improving Student Achievement in Secondary Schools

Democratic values, student achievement, and effective citizenship are intrinsically linked. The research, however, is that students, especially those from underprivileged backgrounds, have few opportunities to practice democratic citizenship in secondary schools.

Alongside current threats to democracy, this should concern us all: professional learning communities, teacher-leaders, parents, consultants, administrators, school districts, human rights activists, minority leadership, the justice system, local communities, university faculties, state education departments, and citizens in general.

Democratic citizenship is a superordinate goal – a composite of communicative abilities, freedom with responsibility, inclusiveness, career preparation, community mindfulness, evidence-based thinking, collective ownership, distributed leadership, and support for those in need. Student leadership, including school research (their own school and others), not only benefits the school generally, but helps prepare high school students for freedom, responsibilities, and opportunities as democratic citizens.

Such leadership has foundations: student-chosen teacher advisors, daily advisories, collaborative learning expertise, student-led assemblies, self-regulation, leadership credit courses, and virtual/personal connections with student leaders in other schools, districts, and countries.

Expanded contributions are student feedback on teacher performance, student-led (parent-student- teacher) conferences, after-school activities leadership, reciprocal teaching, and participation in school/district decision making. All under the auspices of improved language capability, teacher modeling and encouragement, a learning to learn focus, and gradual release of responsibility.

Endorsements

John Hattie

“There is never a dull moment reading this book. Centred on the principles of democracy, it points to the need for broad participation and thus calls for schools to do more, do better, and do wonderful things to ignite a love of learning. Orchard masterfully outlines seven key theorems to make his case; a compelling roadmap for educators to foster effective learning strategies.”

Professor Emeritus John Hattie, Melbourne Laureate

Michael Fullan

“Jack Orchard’s 'Handbook for Improving Student Achievement in Secondary Schools' is powerful, timely, and an action-packed message for us to get going in transforming secondary schools. Orchard’s Handbook is grounded, urgent, insightful, and deeply practical. Anybody in high schools can act on this agenda. Read this book with others, be collectively inspired, and get down to the excitement and frustrations of engaging in breakthrough change. The good news is that students, teachers (and eventually parents and communities) will be excited to join in and make the long-awaited transformation of secondary schools.”

Professor Emeritus Michael Fullan, OISE/University of Toronto

Do You Know, I Love You So?

Do You Know, I Love You So? is a quick book about all the little things we do as a parent that let our children know that we love them. It’s in the small seemingly unimportant tasks we accomplish that show this love: doing the laundry, brushing the teeth and just being silly that let our children know we love them every day. Enjoy this simple story and share the love you have for your child with them each and every day.

More than All the Magic in Manhattan

Continuing the imaginative series with More Than All the Magic in Manhattan, Stacey Dixon Phelan wants to again provide families an opportunity to create their own expressions of love to cherish and share for years to come. With the same playful and colorful illustrations, this book will capture any child’s curiosity.

‘I love you more than all the seagulls in Santa Monica’ and ‘I love you more than all the colors in Key West’ will provide families with a chance to explore the United States and teach children about the characteristics of American geography and culture.

Keep playing the game!

Meet Leon and Maggie Cobb

Most of us, as children, perceive our parents as perfect. Ah, the confusing age of innocence! Do you remember, as a child, thinking of your parents as though they were born as adults – parents, fully formed – and never considering that they, too, were once children? Now, as the shoe is on the other foot, how often do we reflect on our lives from childhood to adulthood? Can you recall the mistakes you made as you grew up, collecting them as “life’s lessons,” shaped by experiences that molded and defined who you are today? Some of those experiences may have been painful, even traumatic.

But such is life’s grand design. In hindsight, our parents – just as we – never were, aren’t, and never will be perfect, nor should we set such unrealistic expectations for ourselves. It is more than enough to be kind and loving. After all, no one escapes life’s moral challenges, whether they lead to good or bad outcomes. ‘Perfect’ – a word so overrated!

Now, as you reflect on your own life, you may find yourself wondering what unspeakable deeds your parents may have hidden, and who they truly are. For many, it may be too late to ask; for others, it may be fear or respect that keeps those questions unasked.

Meet Leon and Maggie Cobb in this tell-all story!