Mascot Blog

Dr. Renee Exelbert was working as a psychologist in a pediatric cancer center in Long Island, New York, before being diagnosed with breast cancer in 2007. The news came as a devastating shock to her and her family. She found herself on a path she had explored many times before as a doctor, only this time, she was the patient.

Dr. Exelbert reflects upon her experience when confronting her own cancer diagnosis in Chemo Muscles. With deep candor, she shares her intimate struggles with identity and vulnerability; the interactions she had with healthcare professionals throughout her journey; and, what it was like to regain a sense of control over her own body by becoming a student of diet and exercise, ultimately becoming a bodybuilding figure competitor and certified personal trainer.

Pairing her own illuminating story with psychological theory, Dr. Exelbert offers researched coping skills to help both individuals and their families take on cancer, as well as guidance to aid healthcare professionals to treat their patients with greater understanding, dignity, and respect. Please note: this title will be released on February 25, 2020.

When Toni the turtle moves to a new town, he’s not sure how to fit in. Becoming fast friends with a lion named Leo, Toni soon learns that sometimes the best way to fit in is to stand out. Together, can they find a way to turn outspoken bullies into helpless spectators at the school decathlon?


By Sam Pond

Gunner can’t wait to visit his best friend, Hayden, in Hub City. From playing hide-and-seek with his best bud, eating great food from the hottest local restaurants, and spending some time in a luxurious hotel for dogs, Gunner’s first adventure in the big city is one to remember!

Goose and Moose may not look like it, but they’re brothers. And even though they’re different, they always do their best to help one another and others. When they go on a fun camping trip together, they learn to overcome challenges and empower themselves and others.

Sophie Swanson loves to play basketball with her friends. But when a surgery leaves her paralyzed, she believes her game is done. Trapped in a small purple wheelchair, there’s no way Sophie could ever play again. That’s when an event at the local mall introduces Sophie to wheelchair basketball! Along the way, Sophie makes some new friends and discovers that the old saying is undeniably true:

You can do anything you put your mind to!


By Amanda Erwin

Mrs. Hare longs to teach her kindergarten critters how to solve problems and get along, but their constant tattling and frustration leaves her searching for an answer. Discover how an ordinary piece of paper inspires a classroom revelation and empowers students to reveal the unspoken.

On Mike’s birthday, he scores the bike of his dreams!
But the rest of this tale is not what it seems…

One morning, he realizes his bike is gone!
How’d it go missing? What went wrong?

Follow Mike on his adventure to find his missing bike
with support from his community and friends.

Do you believe Mike will find his bike by the end?


By Brooklyn E. Wilson

I was born in Los Angeles, California, and was raised in numerous states and countries. I’ve always had a passion for writing. A long time ago, I realized that poetry was an escape. I often get lost in my thoughts to the point where I don’t know what to think or how to feel. But writing poems always helps. It gives me a chance to calm down and sort out my thoughts. A chance to face what I feel and understand why I feel that particular way. My goal is to inspire and touch people, to help them feel in tune with their emotions. I want people to understand they’re never alone, that someone else out there feels exactly how they feel. I wrote this book when I was fifteen. A time when I was learning how to love myself. I was learning how to love others. At that time, I was also realizing I don’t need others to love me so I can love myself. As a result, I wrote this book filled with love letters. I hope you enjoy. I hope you feel every word.


By D.K. Nox

All of his life, Andrew has anticipated joining the rest of his family as a Vessel for a Creationist god and wielding the power to create. Then during his Awakening ceremony, he discovers that the god inside him is not a Creationist, but a Destructionist. On top of that, his eyes are gold, which sets him apart from the other red-eyed Destructionist Vessels.

With these changes, Andrew struggles with being pushed front and center. And as ancient gods start to hatch a plot older than humankind, Andrew might be the one person who can stop them—if he can reconcile who he and the being within him truly are.

Andy is born into a land where it he does not blend in. But then, with the help of his loving family, some wizardry, and a magical cap, he discovers that being unique can be a wonderfully good force.

Come to TEXAS
and count with me!

You’ll learn things, too.
1, 2, 3!

Brain transplants have turned into a reality.

Before the world knows that this medical miracle has been reached, it is developed into a weapon. The weapon is a young woman. She calls herself Divest.

Forced to follow the agenda of a secret, brutal organization, Divest’s mind is transferred from body to body and used to perform espionage and murder. But like her targets, she is also a victim. Caught between two ancient, quasi-religious organizations pursuing what each believes to be humanity’s purpose, Divest is drafted into one final job. Her handlers promise that if she succeeds, her brain will be returned to her original body, and she will be reunited with the man she loves—the man her handlers are holding hostage.

What would you be willing to do for the person you loved?


By Amanda Lamb

Started in 1969 in Raleigh, North Carolina, Tammy Lynn Center works with people of all abilities to live their best lives. The programs that they offer include Early Childhood Intervention Services, Educational Services, Home & Community Based Services, Applied Behavioral Analysis, Therapy Services, and Residential Services. To find more information on Tammy Lynn Center, please visit www.nctlc.org.

By Laura Preble

“Lots of narrative pull…wonderfully complicated.”

–Jincy Willett, author of The Writing Class, and anthologized by David Sedaris in Children Playing Before a Statue of Hercules

Anna Colin Beck knows all too well what can happen when things go wrong—really wrong. So, she’s spent the last several years living an extremely regimented life at home, doing everything she can to avoid subjecting herself to the torments of a germ-infested world. Everything must be just so, and when things don’t go to plan, she punishes her own body…and that still hasn’t helped alleviate her pain.

After a chance meeting in a laundromat, she finds herself completely infatuated with another person, something that hasn’t happened to her in a long time. Dr. Edward Denture is seemingly brilliant and magnetic…and in the blink of an eye, she’s attending intense somatic therapy sessions as his newest client. The more he draws from her, the further their relationship grows, until it’s crossed countless lines and consumed Anna with a fierce toxicity. And before she knows it, she finds herself buckled into the driver’s seat of a powder-blue El Dorado for a solo cross-country road trip, determined to stop his wedding. It’s a trip that will test every limitation she’s ever set for herself, and though she’s planned extensively for all contingencies, there are some twists and turns you just can’t prepare for.

With wry observations on the intersection of luck, fate, and life, Anna Incognito is a searing, darkly witty exploration of what it means to be alive.

By Ann Morris

Grandma’s loves her granddaughters, Payton and Haley, with her whole heart. This is a story of deep affection, and is a collection of wonderful memories. From sleepovers to baking cookies to playing hair salon, each moment is cherished as her grandchildren grow up and learn about life.


By Farissa Knox

Before Farissa was a successful business woman, wife, mother, and mentor to young women all over the country, she was a 20-something trying to figure it all out. In her debut memoir, Farissa tells her story of navigating an early career in advertising, the journey of falling in love and making grown-woman decisions in her relationship, and the strength and courage true friendship brought her during this time in her life. In her conversational storytelling approach, Farissa takes the reader through the decisions, opportunities, and experiences that helped her become the confident 30-something-year-old woman she is today and creates a sense of “none of us are in this alone” for readers of all ages.


By Sara Grace

When Mr. Cupid has an accident that leaves him in a deep love spell, it’s up to Mrs. Cupid to find a way to spread love this Valentine’s Day. Join Mrs. Cupid and her husband’s colleagues, Mr. Dart, Mr. Tie, Ms. Ticker, Mrs. Cocoa, and Miss Sprinkle, to see if you can help discover the secret ingredient that will make this Valentine’s Day truly magical.

Tribute is more than a twenty-year journey of writing rhyme,
as I prayed, and I cried, and I laughed hard inside,

And I thought very deeply about issues way too grave,
remembering ancestors who were African slaves.

Yet, remembering the voices and the faces of Americans true,
some of the best people ever known to me and you.

All races, all colors, Americans, the best people still thriving on earth:
I am grateful to have experienced the authentic American way,
a journey in love and in life since my birth.

Jimmy’s fifth birthday party was everything he wanted. He had his family, friends, and lots of new toys! But the next day, his parents helped him pack up all his belongings, including his new toys, to go on a trip. They didn’t tell Jimmy where they were headed, or how long they would be there. Jimmy’s life changes forever when he reaches the airport and his family is stopped by immigration officers. First, he loses all his brand new toys. Jimmy thinks this is the worst thing ever–until his dad is taken away next.

Will Jimmy’s family be reunited?

What’s a kid to do without his shoe?

Dave and his family are ready for a fun trip to get ice cream – until disaster strikes! Dave hops on one foot all over town trying to find his missing shoe, and enlists the help of his friends and neighbors (and even zoo animals!) to locate his lost shoe. After searching high and low, Dave finally discovers that the help he needed all along was with the person he least expected – and the last place he looked!

By Steve Rochinski

 delivers an honest, articulate, and poignant commentary on a lifelong struggle to recover from the most sinister side of humanity.


By Terry Carter Collins

“You tunneled underground? You swam the seven seas? You climbed the highest mountains AND swung from the tallest trees, a mouse?”

Be inspired to look beyond the surface and find a friend in the most unlikely of places.

By Amber Morrell

Lucy is a chocolate lab who is always up to something. She has many favorite things in her life, but the one she describes in this story by far tops the list!

Just Bunny is Francesca’s right-hand stuffy who has been with her through everything since day one.

Nothing can tear these two apart—except, perhaps, a fire! Thankfully, one of New York’s Bravest is on the scene to prove that selfless acts of kindness occur every day.

Being an only child can be hard, especially for Lil’ Mac who knows he’d make a great big brother. Lil’ Mac would love a friend to share wonderful experiences with. When he hears there’s a baby on the way, he’s in for a surprise! Having a little sister is tiring! Lil’ Mac does his best to help, and he knows Mama is exhausted because of the many duties newborn Ebony brings. Will Lil’ Mac understand that a new baby is not always fun and games? Join Lil’ Mac and find out how he uses the skills Mama taught him to be responsible and take the initiative.

As an incredible academic student and star football athlete, Lil’ Mac is familiar with being in the spotlight. On the field and in the classroom, everyone counts on Lil’ Mac to be prepared for the unexpected. When the day of the championship football game arrives, Lil’ Mac has to face the unimaginable. Will Mrs. Johnson and his classmates let him live this down?

Join Lil’ Mac and find out how quick thinking allows him to be resilient and bounce back despite a messy situation.

Always keep dreaming, Little One,
Your world is your own creation.

Nothing is ever impossible
when done with faith and imagination.

Happiness is something you develop as you live your life, regardless of where you are and what the circumstances are. There is no exact route to discovering happiness, but everybody deserves it. It is for this reason that it is enough to want to obtain it.

I hope that by reading my book, I will empower and inspire you to be truly happy. We owe that feeling of bliss to ourselves. If I can share that emotion with others, I will feel happy a thousand-fold.

“The alternate domination of one faction over another, natural to party dissension…is itself a frightful despotism.” — George Washington

George Washington’s nightmare has been realized. Despite his warning about the negative effects of party loyalties, the U.S. government has become paralyzed by partisanship, allowing national challenges to go unaddressed.

As an independent candidate for U.S. Senate in 2018, Neal Simon witnessed the destructive nature of modern American politics. He experienced firsthand the perverse incentives that push candidates and lawmakers to ideological extremes. He watched as party leaders resisted pragmatic solutions to our nation’s problems. He saw politicians prioritize loyalty to their party bases over progress for the American people.

In this comprehensive analysis of United States politics, Simon shows how degradations in party primaries, campaign finances, and election rules have caused American self-government to collapse into gridlock and divisiveness. However, the American promise is so much greater. As the first U.S. president noted in his famed address, “The basis of our political systems is the right of the people to make and to alter their constitutions of government.”

Capitalizing on personal insight derived from Simon’s political campaign along with extensive research, Contract to Unite America provides specific, practical solutions for an improved government and a better tomorrow. Please note: this title will be released on February 18, 2020.