Books published by publisher Oliver Press

Are you looking for an illustrated book you can read to your children that teaches them something valuable while engaging your own mind as well? The best shared reading times happen when both parent and child enjoy a book and benefit from what it teaches. A Good Life was written to be read to children while provoking meaningful thought in adults.This inspirational story follows a young orphan boy who leaves his home town and difficult background to find a good life. As he journeys, he meets people of various professions (farmer, composer, teacher, soldier, artist, etc.). Each character gives the boy a different metaphor for thinking about life. For example, a farmer tells the boy that life is a garden:"Life is a garden . . . Its soil can sprout forth both good and bad plants with equal opportunity for both to thrive. It is up to us to pull and cast away the weeds, and to plant, water, and nurture the good things that we desire to grow."There are ten metaphors for life explored in the book. Life is a garden, game, race, canvas, test, symphony, battle, journey, story, and gift. The characters explain each idea to the boy as the farmer explains the garden metaphor above. As with all metaphors, each offers a host of implications creating different food for thought each time one reads the book.The final metaphor explored in the book is "life is a gift." After praying for a place he can call home, the boy is taken in by a couple who adopt him. Though written for all parents and children, the story is sure to be a special encouragement to foster care and adoption families.The themes and values for discussion in the book include overcoming adversity, happiness, hope, focus, discipline, beauty, hard work, relationships, interpersonal harmony, vigilance, protection, wisdom, perseverance, faith, prayer, creativity, and love. For older children, the book can create opportunities to discuss the concept of constructing a life philosophy.A Good Life is Jeremiah Pent's first children's book. He and his high school sweetheart have seven children and live in Franklin, Tennessee. The book features 22 beautiful watercolor illustrations by Ukrainian artist Dmitry Morozov.

Named to Kirkus Reviews Best of 2012!When you run from bullies, you never know where you might wind up…Bitopia is a wonderland of fantastical foliage and mysterious creatures. It’s also a place where Venators lurk, vile creatures that relentlessly hunt children. So the children of Bitopia, the only human inhabitants, are forced to live in a high-walled city for protection, a medieval metropolis of cold and shadow where time passes but no one ages, a place of no escape.Like all the other children of Bitopia, Stewart arrives there unexpectedly while fleeing from bullies. And, like all Newcomers, Stewart dreams of finding a way back home. Risking exile from the city and the protection that it offers, Stewart and Cora, his Finder, discover a clue to escaping, one that presents them with a terrible choice: face their greatest fear and risk death, or be trapped in Bitopia forever.A fast-paced epic adventure that addresses a fundamental element of bullying--fear--and provides an example to readers of how to deal with a bullying problem on their own.Ages 10 and up.

A new assignment. A new recruit to protect. Only this time, it’s his heart that’s in the most danger.Gideon North lives for adventure. Top in his class at the Freedom Fighter Academy, his next assignment will be his most important yet. He’s being sent to Earth, a third-level planet full of dirty streets and less-evolved humans. His task is to protect Lark Taylor, the Academy’s newest recruit, from attack by the Lilthe. Gideon immediately jumps into action, determined to keep Lark from harm at any cost. But can he protect her and keep from losing his heart and everything he’s worked for? The answer is written in the stars . . .

Twelve Year old Spanelli McQuillen works at The Museum of Oddities, the family owned antiques shop. When her mother purchases Hamley House, an abandoned home that sits on a hill at the edge of their small neighborhood, Spanelli gets the feeling that something isn't right with the grand, old estate. After she discovers an eerie letter tucked between the pages of an old book, her fears are confirmed and she is taken on a wild adventure as she discovers the frightful mysteries of the old house.

This comic-style guide teaches students in grades 3–5 how to prevent and stop bullying on their own or with adult help. Ostensibly written by the two title characters, the guide covers bullying basics, how to respond to aggression to render it ineffective, ways to get bullying to stop, how to help someone who is being bullied, and how to get an adult to help the right way. The title characters explain and demonstrate the concepts, providing students with easy-to-follow examples they can apply to their own bullying problems. The guide also contains a special section for students in grades K–2, designed to be read with an adult, that teaches younger students basic skills that can help them in their daily social interactions involving the types of aggression common at their grade level and prepares them for the aggression they will face in the upper grades. The guide is a core component of the CirclePoint Bullying Prevention Program and is used by healthcare organizations to teach students about bullying prevention. New for the second edition: easier terms and definitions; text updated for Plain Language compliance. Note: black and white interior illustrations.

This comic-style guide teaches students in grades 3–5 how to prevent and stop bullying on their own or with adult help. Ostensibly written by the two title characters, the guide covers bullying basics, how to respond to aggression to render it ineffective, ways to get bullying to stop, how to help someone who is being bullied, and how to get an adult to help the right way. The title characters explain and demonstrate the concepts, providing students with easy-to-follow examples they can apply to their own bullying problems. The guide also contains a special section for students in grades K–2, designed to be read with an adult, that teaches younger students basic skills that can help them in their daily social interactions involving the types of aggression common at their grade level and prepares them for the aggression they will face in the upper grades. The guide is a core component of the CirclePoint Bullying Prevention Program and is used by healthcare organizations to teach students about bullying prevention. New for the second edition: easier terms and definitions; text updated for Plain Language compliance. Note: black and white interior illustrations.

Jane Worthington is miserable indeed. Losing her parents at the tender age of eight, she is sent to live at the dreadful orphanage, The Rudorf Home For Foundlings, where she is forced to bed without supper, made to clean with little rest and, when she's very naughty, locked away in the red room. One day, her fortune changes when she discovers a door to another world through which she escapes and starts down a journey that will grant her the chance for wicked revenge.