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Reader's Digest Special Edition Volume 120: The Woman Next Door / A Smile as Big as the Moon (Large Print)
Reader's Digest Special Edition Volume 120 The Woman Next Door / A Smile as Big as the Moon - Large Print Author:Barbara Delinsky, Mike Kersjes with Joe Layden The Woman Next Door — The seemingly bucolic lives of three families living on a cul-de-sac in an upscale suburban Connecticut town are suddenly undermined by the pregnancy of the young, attractive, and reclusive widow who shares their street. Although the three couples seem to have it all, no household is without its difficulties, and the wives c... more »an't help but wonder if one of their husbands is the father. Amanda and Graham O'Leary appear to have the perfect marriage, but the ordeal of infertility treatments is making their lives miserable. Karen Cotter has dealt with her husband's philandering before, but now it's affecting their children. Russ Lange is a househusband while his wife, Georgia, travels the country for her juice company. The wives are good friends, yet they have been less than friendly with the widow while their husbands go over regularly to fix one thing or another around her house, thus underscoring their wives' hostility. Each woman is moved to evaluate her life and find out what is important to her; then, in the midst of all this involving introspection, a crisis materializes at the high school, adding to the tensions in each household.
A Smile as Big as the Moon
A high school special education teacher in Michigan, Kersjes faced enormous odds when he decided that he wanted his class to attend Space Camp in Huntsville, AL, a program aimed at providing simulated astronaut training for gifted students. His 20 students had a wide range of learning and emotional disabilities and were stigmatized by other students and teachers. Readers will be genuinely moved by the many funny, sad, irritating, and even frustrating scenes, as Kersjes relates the numerous bureaucratic and educational stumbling blocks he encountered trying to convince administrators at his school and at Space Camp that his students could benefit and succeed in the challenging program. Once those barriers were overcome, he faced huge problems raising money for travel and, more importantly, preparing his students for the rigors of five days of training.« less