New Releases by Robert Fulghum

A collection of observations and insights on the nature of love and the many different forms it can take.

FROM BEGINNING TO END Why "rituals"? My thinking was set in motion by those who, knowing I was a parish minister for many years, have asked me for advice about ceremonies and celebrations. They wanted words to use at graduations, funerals, and the welcoming of children. They inquired about grace at family meals, the reaffirmation of wedding vows, and ways to heal wounds suffered in personal conflict. People requested help with the rituals of solitude, such as meditation, prayer, and contemplation. . . . Rituals do not always involve words, occasions, officials, or an audience. Rituals are often silent, solitary, and self-contained. The most powerful rites of passage are reflective--when you look back on your life again and again, paying attention to the rivers you have crossed and the gates you have opened and walked on through, the thresholds you have passed over. I see ritual when people sit together silently by an open fire. Remembering. As human beings have remembered for thousands and thousands of years. FULGHUM From the Paperback edition.

After three phenomenal #1 bestsellers, Fulghum returns with a brand-new collection of essays as wise, witty, and down-to-earth as ever. Whether the subject is barbershop mythology or a meditation on the circumstances of one''s own conception, Fulghum makes us a little more aware of the richness, fullness, and joyousness of life.

"Fulghum ... shares with readers the words and wisdom of others that have guided and inspired him throughout his life and on which he drew when writing his international bestsellers."--Jacket.

This multivolume set of readers features poems, short stories, essays, and exerpts from larger works gathered together under specific themes. Each reading includes thinking, discussion, and writing activies. For example, volume 1 includes a short story under the theme of Accomplishments entitled "The scholarship jacket." Thinking activities include comprehension questions regarding facts within the story such as "Why was the scholarship jacket important to Martha?" Discussion activities take information from the story and ask the reader to analyse data ("What is the real meaning of the scholarship or other achievement award?") or make real-world connections with their own lives. Writing activities can focus on a specific incident in the story asking the reader to write a scene of dialogue for a "what would have happened if..." situation.

Titles include "All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten, It Was on Fire When I Lay Down On It" and "Uh-Oh and Maybe, Maybe Not".

“Uh-oh” embraces “Here we go again” and “Now What?” and “You never can tell what’s going to happen next” and “So much for plan A” and “Hang on, we’re coming to a tunnel” and “No sweat” and “Tomorrow’s another day” and “You can’t unscramble an egg” and “A hundred years from now it won’t make any difference.” “Uh-oh” is more than a momentary reaction to small problems. “Uh-oh” is an attitude—a perspective on the universe. It is a power of an equation that summarizes my view of the conditions of existence: “Uh-huh” + “oh-wow” + “uh-oh” + “oh, God” = “ah-hah!”

For the adult new reader, selections from the original work of inspiring messages.