A Kirkus Reviews Best Nonfiction Book of 2021 Family secrets emerge as a best-selling author dives into the history of the mob in small-town America. Best-selling author Russell Shorto, praised for his incisive works of narrative history, never thought to write about his own past. He grew up knowing his grandfather and namesake was a small-town mob boss but maintained an unspoken family vow of silence. Then an elderly relative prodded: You’re a writer—what are you gonna do about the story? Smalltime is a mob story straight out of central casting—but with a difference, for the small-town mob, which stretched from Schenectady to Fresno, is a mostly unknown world. The location is the brawny postwar factory town of Johnstown, Pennsylvania. The setting is City Cigar, a storefront next to City Hall, behind which Russ and his brother-in-law, “Little Joe,” operate a gambling empire and effectively run the town. Smalltime is a riveting American immigrant story that travels back to Risorgimento Sicily, to the ancient, dusty, hill-town home of Antonino Sciotto, the author’s great-grandfather, who leaves his wife and children in grinding poverty for a new life—and wife—in a Pennsylvania mining town. It’s a tale of Italian Americans living in squalor and prejudice, and of the rise of Russ, who, like thousands of other young men, created a copy of the American establishment that excluded him. Smalltime draws an intimate portrait of a mobster and his wife, sudden riches, and the toll a lawless life takes on one family. But Smalltime is something more. The author enlists his ailing father—Tony, the mobster’s son—as his partner in the search for their troubled patriarch. As secrets are revealed and Tony’s health deteriorates, the book become an urgent and intimate exploration of three generations of the American immigrant experience. Moving, wryly funny, and richly detailed, Smalltime is an irresistible memoir by a masterful writer of historical narrative.

This leading resource is a specifically designed curriculum for family child-care providers. They will be able to incorporate best practices and activities appropriate for the mixed ages of children in their care. Developmental domains and milestones, learning areas, age-appropriate activities and outcomes, and more are included. It is far more affordable than other family child care curriculum alternatives, and it aligns with Quality Rating and Improvement System (QRIS) requirements around the country. Sharon Woodward is the author of several resources for family child-care providers and holds a degree in social work.

Tired of only paper print annual family newsletters? Try multimedia-video with text, music, voice, and pictures. Your family multimedia or print newsletter or corporate success story service may be run as a business or hobby. Record voices on video and audio. Put the clips into a time capsule which may contain many annual video and print family newsletters. Keep them and save them to your computer and to discs. Learn relevant questions to ask and how to interview people for the significant moments in their life stories. Then write, publish, and bind by hand exquisitely-crafted personal gift booklets, memoirs, family newsletters, or business success stories to commemorate an event. Use these techniques to create corporate case history success stories or periodical family news and oral history updates and highlights of events and life stories. The purpose of an annual multimedia family or corporate success story newsletter, video DVD release, calendar, or gift booklet is to mark a time, rite, or event using text, music, voice, and pictures.

In most societies of the world, including in Africa, re- sponsibility for the material support of older people unable to sustain themselves through work or investments originally resided with their younger generational family members--especially their adult children. Aboderin explores this topic specifically for Africa. In the wake of social or economic change, societies experience shifts in the degree to which families support their elders. Questions about the proper balance of family and state responsibility, however, persist, especially in light of socio-demographic trends and constraints in public expenditure. In most of sub-Saharan Africa, in contrast to other world regions, economic security policies for older people have not yet been formulated, despite declines in material family support along with rising poverty to which a growing elderly population is exposed. In part, this betrays the crucial lack of understanding about how and why these shifts in support have occurred in African societies--and, thus, a profound uncertainty about what balance of individual, family, and state responsibilities will be culturally appropriate and effective in ensuring economic security for older Africans both now and in the future. Aboderin aims to address these gaps in understanding. She provides an empirical and theoretical analysis of the micro and macro level processes that have underpinned recent declines in old age family support in African societies and likely parameters of future familial support. She also addresses more fundamental theoretical questions about how we should think about the relationships between intergenerational support, norms and values, and societal change. Intergenerational Support in Africa will be of interest to students of African studies, economic policy and theory concerning eldercare, sociology, and social welfare development.

Who can really explain the feeling, the desire to be something more? For me, it is a strange sort of tugging, like all of me isn't really here, as if that missing piece is really somewhere else, engaging in the future that I hope to one day be part of. I know I am meant for something more. I can't really explain it, at least not in words, but I know there has to be more to life than what my eyes can see, than what my mind can understand. My heart tells me so. And aren't people always saying to follow your heart? It's a golden rule or something. Unfortunately, my life is still mostly normal. I'm the oldest of two children. My family is pretty wealthy, thanks to my dad's CEO position for his software company Cabbot Industries. Although he is an owner, he loves being hands-on and "part of the action." We don't have much to worry about in the way of finances, but we pay for it with Dad's constant absence. He's always away for work and business, typically halfway across the world. I trudge my way downstairs, fighting back the desire to rush back up to my room, jump in bed, and hide under the covers. I shake it off, telling myself, Less than five months of school left, Elle. You can do it. Stifling a yawn, I walk into the kitchen. Denney, my fifteen-year-old little brother, is sitting at the kitchen table, eating a bowl of cereal. He gives me a small smile in acknowledgment, showing a little too much of his breakfast. I turn to the breadbox on the bakers rack and pull out a bagel. After popping it into the toaster, I turn to get the cream cheese out of the fridge. All of the appliances in the kitchen are stainless steel and pretty much in spotless 10 E. K. Schiller and Holly Schiller condition. I make an effort to wipe my prints from the fridge's handle before grabbing a knife and plate, just in time for my bagel to pop back out. I can hear Dad in the living room, pacing around as he talks on the phone. He's home for the week, something that only happens about once every month to six weeks. Probably talking to some business associate or assistant, I think to myself. "If you could have one wish granted, no matter how big or small, what would it be? Would you wish for fame, riches, or to be president?" Denney babbles from behind his bowl of cereal which I note, with a little disdain, is his ever favorite Lucky Charms. I don't answer at first, just reach for my bagel, still nice and warm. I take it to the table then spread strawberry cream cheese all over it. Reaching for the comic section of the paper, which Dad has thoughtfully left there for me, I finally turn to look at my brother. "Why?" I ask. "Have you suddenly become a genie or something?" I find I'm a little dissatisfied by his wish choices; I can't imagine my life revolving around any of the three, at least not solely. "Just wanted to know," he mumbles, milk dribbling down his chin and back into the cereal bowl. He stands to take his bowl to the sink, wiping the milk from his face with the sleeve of his shirt. I shrug, shaking my head at him. He's a bit of a dork. But I guess that's typical. Denney's short for his age, almost as tall as I am, which is a not quite impressive five foot three inches. Most boys his age have hit a growth spurt, shooting them well past me in height; I am waiting for Denney to hit his soon. He has my dishwater blond hair, a few shades lighter than Mom's nut brown. And his eyes are a soft hazel color, a mix of browns and greens. I turn back to my bagel and comics as I see Mom walking into the kitchen in her flowery robe, the one Dad thought would be a great Mother's Day present a few years ago. Funny how she only wears it when Dad's home from business. She and Dad have been together since high school. They both graduated from Stillton Hig

Danielle is doomed in love and has the parents from hell. Her mum and dad are embarrassingly scruffy and their car bonnet is a different colour to the rest of the car. Worst of all, they're still in love, which is totally gross considering how ancient they are. Her best friend is a (nice) nerd, her love-rival is an airhead and her dog Simon is in love with an Ugg boot. Despite all this, she hatches a plan - indeed many plans - to win the gorgeous Damien's affections. But when she brings Simon to the park to show him off in front of Damien, a smelly little accident lands Danielle with the nickname 'Dench the Stench'. Could things get any worse? When Simon is accused of biting children in the neighbourhood and her Dad decides to have him taken away, Danielle's life truly begins to unravel. And then her mother announces she's pregnant - again - which gives Danielle's schoolmates even more ammunition with which to make fun of her. Will Damian ever notice her? Can she save Simon? And will Danielle ever live her family down?

Many regulatory and professional agencies countenance the idea of patient-and family-centered care, yet lack an infrastructure able to support such care or employ health care professionals who lack the necessary education, experience, or skills. This book is a comprehensive guide to family-centered care for healthy, ill, or preterm newborns. It guides health care professionals in creating, supporting, and advancing a culture that values partnerships with families. The book is replete with practical suggestions, strategies for effectively communicating with families, and best practices for health professionals who wish to develop partnerships with families before and after childbirth. At the core of family-centered care is the belief that family-centered care and the ability to convey its particular language is as important to newborn and family wellbeing as clinical care. The book is based on four guiding principles that include treating people with dignity and respect, providing information in ways that are useful and affirming, welcoming family participation in care and decision-making at a level chosen by the family, and collaborating with families at the bedside and beyond. The book offers strategies to promote implementation of a family-centered environment in the delivery room or NICU, practical approaches to communicating with families before and after delivery, and tips on policy review to facilitate a culture of family-centered care. It also discusses how to welcome families during interdisciplinary rounds and nurse hand-offs, and ways to support families during procedures and resuscitation. Key Features: Provides a comprehensive guide to implementing family-centered care for healthy, ill, and preterm newborns Guides health care professionals in creating, supporting, and advancing a culture that values partnerships with families Offers strategies for effectively communicating with families to foster family-centered care Reflects on the power of language used with and about families Includes tips on policy review to foster and support a culture of family-centered care

Before the Khmer Rouge takeover of Cambodia in April 1975, Sao Bounchoeurn and San Bounriem grew up in idyllic, though vastly different, circumstances. After a secondary education, Bounchoeurn entered the army, joined the Special Forces, and worked for the Americans. He became a slave laborer after the fall of Phnom Penh and eventually escaped to Thailand. In another part of Cambodia, Bounriem lived happily spoiled and uneducated. Fleeing from the advancing Khmer Rouge, she arrived at the same refugee camp as Bounchoeurn, where they met, married, and immigrated to America. This riveting memoir chronicles the couple's childhoods, their lives under the Khmer Rouge, their journeys to Thailand and later the United States, and their efforts to forge a new life. This remarkable tale offers an intimate look inside the terrors of the Khmer Rouge and an inspiring portrait of the immigrant experience in America.