"Dog Medicine: How My Dog Saved Me From Myself" is by Julie Barton. Julie Barton was twenty-two when she collapsed on her Manhattan kitchen floor. She was only one year out of college, but she was severely depressed. After her mother received an incoherent phone call from her daughter, she raced from Ohio to New York to bring her daughter home. Psychiatrists, therapists, and family all tried to intervene, but nothing seemed to be able to bring Julie out of her darkness. Then, one day, Julie decided to do one hopeful thing: adopt a Golden Retriever puppy that she named Bunker. She tells the story of how depression overwhelmed her, the slow path to recovery that she had to walk, and the astonishing way that animals can heal both broken hearts and minds.
"Go Big or Go Home: the Journey Toward the Dream" is by Scotty McCreery with Travis Thrasher. When the sixteen-year-old from Garner, North Carolina entered the singing competition, he had no ideas what doors it might open for him. Scotty McCreery was a kid with country songs in his soul and a voice to sing them like they should be sung. He dared to compete on "American Idol" at a young age and he won fans in the U.S. and overseas. This book tells his story from his roots in North Carolina to his victory on America's most popular singing competition and the launch of the music career he had always dreamed about.
"What I Told My Daughter: Lessons from Leaders on Raising the Next Generation of Empowered Women" is edited by Nina Tassler with Cynthia Littleton. This series of essays from a powerful and diverse group of women explores the best advice they have given their daughters either by examples, through their own lives, or in character-building, teachable moments between parent and child. A popular entertainer and former child star urges her daughter to walk in her own truth, to not break glass ceilings if she desires to nurture a family as a stay-at-home mom, and not to abandon a career if that is her calling. One of the country's few female police chiefs teaches her daughter what it means to be courageous, how to respond to danger, and most importantly, how not to let fear stop her from experiencing all that life has to offer. An Emmy and Tony award winning actress who teaches her daughter the importance of getting back on the horse even after he has thrown you face-first into the mud. From Madeleine Albright and Ruth Bader Ginsburg to Dr. Susan Love and Whoopi Goldberg, these essays are sure to inspire mothers and daughters alike.
