Mary Ellen Taylor

Adrift in the wake of her father's death, a failed marriage, and multiple miscarriages, Libby McKenzie feels truly alone. Though her new life as a wedding photographer provides a semblance of purpose, it's also a distraction from her profound pain.

Honeysuckle Season

From the bestselling author of Honeysuckle Season comes an evocative dual-timeline novel detailing one woman's journey to discover the hidden stories of her family's seaside resort. When a shipwreck surfaces, old secrets are sure to follow. Or so goes the lore in Ivy Neale's hometown of Nags Head, North Carolina. When Ivy inherits her family's beachfront cottage upon her grandmother's death, she knows returning to Nags Head means facing the best friend and the boyfriend who betrayed her years ago. But then a winter gale uncovers the shipwreck of local legend--and Ivy soon begins to stumble across more skeletons in the closet than just her own. Amid the cottage's clutter are clues from her grandmother's past at the enchanting seaside resort her family once owned. One fateful summer in 1950, the arrival of a dazzling singer shook the staff and guests alike--and not everyone made it to fall. As Ivy contends with broken relationships and a burgeoning romance in the present, the past threatens to sweep her away. But as she uncovers the strength of her grandmother and the women who came before her, she realizes she is like the legendary shipwreck: the sands may shift around her, but she has found her home here by the sea.

The Brighter the Light

From the bestselling author of Honeysuckle Season comes a sweeping saga that interweaves the past and present in an epic tapestry of love, war, and loss. As a hospice nurse, Zara Mitchell has already seen more death than most people will experience in a lifetime. So when her older sister asks her to help care for their ailing grandmother, Zara agrees--despite strained family relationships. Though pale and tired, Nonna has lost none of her sharp mind. She's fixated on finding something long forgotten, and she immediately puts Zara to work cleaning out the attic. Unexpectedly, amid the tedium of sifting through knickknacks and heirlooms, Zara also reconnects with a man she's attracted to but whose complicated past makes romance seem impossible. But then Zara finds what Nonna was looking for: a wooden chest, an emerald broach, a leather-bound journal. As she immerses herself in stories of heroism and loss set against the backdrop of war-torn Italy in 1943, Zara finds answers to questions she didn't know she had. And they change everything she thinks she knows about love, regret, and seizing the day.

The Words We Whisper

A gripping novel about family secrets...and coming home for the first time. Still grieving the loss of her wandering, free-spirited mother, Lucy Kincaid leaves Nashville for the faded town of Cape Hudson, Virginia. She goes to see the house she's inherited--one she never knew existed, bequeathed to her by a woman she's never even met. At the heart of this mystery is the hope that maybe--just maybe--this "Winter Cottage" will answer the endless questions about her mother's past...including the identity of her birth father. Rather than the quaint Virginian bungalow Lucy expected, Winter Cottage is a grand old estate of many shadows--big enough to hold a century of secrets, passions, and betrayals. It also comes with a handsome and enigmatic stranger, a man next in line to claim Lucy's inheritance. Now, as Lucy sifts through the past, uncovering the legacy of secrets that Winter Cottage holds, she'll come to discover as much about her family history as she does about herself. In searching, she could finally find the one thing she's never really had: a home.

Winter Cottage

"The lives of two women, generations apart, converge in this enthralling novel of love, mystery, memories, and secrets. Pregnant and still grieving the death of her fiance̹, historian Megan Buchanan is forging ahead on a dream project: to restore to its original glory the landmark hunting lodge her own great-great-grandfather built on Virginia's Eastern Shore. With the help of her fiance̹'s caring best friend, it's sure to draw much-needed tourist revenue to Cape Hudson, a town rich in southern history. However, it's Spring House, the caretaker's cottage on the grounds, that holds the most intriguing history for Megan. In a cache of old letters, she's drawn into the captivating life of a young woman who embarked on her own dream adventure a century ago. With each one, Megan is swept away into her enthralling world-and all its secrets. But Megan has secrets too. Now, as one woman's past unfolds in each revealing letter, Megan will discover more about herself and about the emotional tides of family that can be weathered with those you love and trust the most"--Provided by publisher.

Spring House

Unemployed and single, Daisy McCrae resigns herself to learning the failing family business until a 150-year-old journal written by a slave girl named Susie compels her to research the past of the town and her own family. 25,000 first printing.

The Union Street Bakery

From The Brighter the Light author Mary Ellen Taylor comes the emotional story of a mother and daughter learning to endure life's twists and turns as they grieve a loss and face an uncertain future. When artist Dani Peterson learns she's slowly losing her vision, she becomes unmoored. Her ex-husband died only months before, leaving Dani and her preteen daughter grief stricken. Suddenly, the life Dani built for her family on the Outer Banks feels like a painful reminder of all they've lost. On a whim, Dani sells her waterfront home and buys an old farm inland near the Virginia state line. But Dani's daughter recoils at the sudden, drastic change. The Outer Banks' sun-swept beaches, pink dawns, and savage storms are all she's ever known. But Dani is resolute, and the pair move to Virginia to embark on a challenging renovation. That summer, their efforts to turn a run-down silo into an art studio bring forth new friends, new loves, and new challenges. As mother and daughter navigate the fiercest storm of their lives, they learn that instead of waiting for the skies to clear, they can withstand the wind and rain, so long as they do it together.

When the Rain Ends

The author of The Union Street Bakery presents a new novel about a woman searching for a fresh start?while unable to forget the past? Adele ?Addie” Morgan grew up in a house filled with pain and loss. Determined to live life on her own terms, Addie moves to the country and finds a job at a vineyard where she discovers stability, happiness, and?best of all?love with the kind owner, Scott. But an unexpected call abruptly pulls Addie out of her new and improved life. Her sister has just given birth and Addie's Aunt Grace wants her to return home to help the family?even if it means confronting things she's tried so hard to forget. When Addie arrives, she quickly realizes that she hasn't truly let go of her former life, at least not completely. After making a surprising connection with her sister's baby?and her sister's ex-husband, Zeb?Addie must choose between her picture-perfect future with Scott and the family roots she thought she'd left behind for good?

At the Corner of King Street

The author of The Union Street Bakery and At the Corner of King Street returns to Alexandria, Virginia, with a heartfelt tale of reconnection. Rae McDonald was fifteen when a car accident took her sister’s life and threw her own into reckless turmoil. When she got pregnant a year later, she found a loving couple to adopt the child. Since then, she’s buried her grief and guilt under a heart of stone. Lisa Smyth survived the fateful crash, but never told the truth about what happened. And when a family obligation draws her back to Alexandria, the weight of Lisa’s guilt grows heavier by the day. As both women confront a past refusing to be forgotten, long-buried artifacts are discovered by the Shire Architectural Salvage Company that point to a shared history between families. Now, Rae and Lisa must finally ask themselves if denying the past is worth sacrificing the future.

The View from Prince Street

Feeling contented if not happy in her life running the family bakery while living in the store's attic, Daisy receives unexpected news that throws everything into chaos before discovering a hidden box of recipes and mementos that help her to find a sense of purpose. Original. 25,000 first printing.

Sweet Expectations

After her sister's death in a car accident, Rae McDonald's teenage years were in turmoil. Pregnant at sixteen, she found a loving couple to adopt her child - and then buried her grief under a heart of stone. Her sister's best friend Lisa Smyth survived the crash, but never told the truth about it. So when a family obligation draws her back to Alexandria, Virginia, both women must confront the past, as long-buried artefacts are unearthed by the Shire Architectural Salvage company that link their family histories - and point to a new future.

These post-reading activities for Maniac Magee allow students to share their understanding of the characters, plots, and settings of the book. They have opportunities to write, draw, and perform based on what they've learned.

Maniac Magee Post-Reading Activities

Explore the many obstacles that Maniac Magee encounters in this eye-opening book. Students will learn to analyze prejudices and other challenges that Magee faces by completing fun, challenging activities and lessons provided in this digital instructional guide for literature. This e-book guide is the perfect tool for teachers to aid students in analyzing and comprehending this story. Appealing and challenging cross-curricular lessons and activities incorporate research-based literacy skills to help students become thorough readers. These lessons and activities work in conjunction with the text to teach students how to analyze and comprehend story elements in multiple ways, practice close reading and text-based vocabulary, determine meaning through text-dependent questions, and much more.

An Instructional Guide for Literature: Maniac Magee

These cross-curricular activities for Maniac Magee incorporate key skills from the Common Core. The activities integrate literature with social studies, science, mathematics, and more.

Maniac Magee Making Cross-Curricular Connections

These vocabulary activities for Maniac Magee incorporate key skills from the Common Core. The activities integrate vocabulary with the study of the texts. Includes text-dependent questions, definitions, and text-based sentences.

Maniac Magee Vocabulary Activities

Students will enjoy studying the story elements of Maniac Magee through these engaging activities, students create products to share their understanding of the characters, plots, and settings of the book.

Maniac Magee Studying the Story Elements

Students analyze Maniac Magee using key skills from the Common Core. Close reading of the text is required to answer text-dependent questions. Included are student pages with the text-dependent questions as well as suggested answers.

Maniac Magee Close Reading and Text-Dependent Questions

These leveled discussion questions about Maniac Magee require students to read closely, make connections, and share their analyses. Included are leveled comprehension questions and suggested answers.

Maniac Magee Leveled Comprehension Questions

These assessment questions for Maniac Magee are modeled after current testing models requiring students to revisit the text for answers. Students have to support their opinions and inferences with examples from the text.

Mary Ellen Taylor

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