Showing results by narrator "Patrick Mealey" in All Categories

Someone is stealing dragons and killing the farmers who raise them. Charl and her friends have been charged with finding those responsible and bringing them to justice. Her ability to communicate with dragons should give them an edge. Too bad the dragons won't cooperate. Raging forest fires, deadly underwater creatures, and irascible dragons await in this final installment to the Hatched adventure where Charl faces her greatest fear of all: her destiny.

Eleven-year-old Norman Ollestad is no stranger to extreme situations. Whether it's surfing big swells off Topanga Beach or skiing in a blizzard, he has braved one adrenaline-rush adventure after another, pushed by his thrill-seeking father to realize that "anything's possible." And with Dad by his side, sometimes Norman believes him. That motto is put to the ultimate test when the small plane Norman and his dad are aboard is engulfed by a snowstorm and crashes in the San Gabriel Mountains—with deadly consequences.

Lessons about embracing the miracles of life, based on a story of how Brody Young survived being shot nine times and severely wounded by a man while on patrol as a park ranger in a remote canyon in Utah one night. After many months, he recovered from his wounds and returned to work, forever changed by his near-death experience. How Young reacted in the face of life-threatening danger takes on heightened meaning when we learn how he decided to respond to the miracles that followed.

You could say Kyle Jr. grew up in a dysfunctional family. That'd be an understatement. His mother's wealthy family disinherited her for marrying the working-class Kyle Sr., and she's never forgiven him (or KJ) for that. When his father's suicide turns his life upside down, KJ fills his therapist-recommended grief journal with plenty of sarcasm, excerpts from sweary, punny high-school short stories, and fourth-wall-breaking asides.