Grocery Store Worker Shares Pandemic’s Widespread Impact as Supply Chain Issues Continue
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Former grocery store cashier Adam Kaat likens his 18 months on the grocery line to a “fever dream” or “getting hit by wave after wave at high tide.” Kaat witnessed firsthand the devastation — and desperation — stoked by an invisible, deadly force as the pandemic of 2020 unfolded. He shares his unforgettable experiences in the powerful new book, Life on the Grocery Line: A Frontline Experience in a Global Pandemic.
“Everything happened overnight,” Kaat recalls in a recent interview. “All of a sudden, you had people with mounds of groceries. Every conversation was about the virus. Every conversation was political. People became polarized immediately.”
In his book, Kaat takes readers into the eye of the storm, where some of the workforce’s lowest paid employees ride a daily maelstrom of empty shelves, angry customers, uncertainty and paranoia. He describes what it was like to be “the gatekeeper to food,” often joined by a police officer as he monitored the number of shoppers permitted in the store.
He tells his riveting story through the eyes of a character named Daniel, who watches from the frontlines as the frenzied panic caused by COVID surges like a tidal wave across his home state of Colorado. Now, he’s suddenly being called a hero just for showing up at his job, and he isn’t sure how to feel about that.
Daniel sees fear in the eyes of some customers and hostility in others, as he does his best to hold his head high and just keep making it from one shift to the next. And along the way, he learns more than he ever expected to about humanity’s response to fear, observing most prominently the way in which some people look down on the very workers they deem “essential.”
At its core, Life on the Grocery Line is about a test of the human spirit — a 21st century manifestation of Ernest Hemingway’s The Old Man and The Sea.
Author Adam Jonathan Kaat worked in a grocery store as a cashier and then as a prepared foods supervisor from January 2020 until May 2021. After college, he bounced around through the corporate world until leaving it all behind in the Fall of 2019 to write his first novel. By January 2020, he had taken a job as a cashier to earn money while preserving mental energy for his creative pursuits. He got much more than he bargained for when COVID hit. He began to blog about his experiences as a frontline worker, and 15,000 Facebook followers later, Life on the Grocery Line was born.
For more information and to read Kaat’s blog, please visit www.lifeonthegroceryline.com; or connect with the author on Instagram (@kaatadam), Facebook (@lifeonthegroceryline) or Twitter (lifeonthegroce1).
Life on the Grocery Line: A Frontline Experience in a Global Pandemic Publisher: Inspired Forever Publishing ISBN-10: 1948903326 ISBN-13: 978-1948903325 Available from Amazon.com
Trish Stevens Carmen James Ascot Media Group, Inc. Post Office Box 2394 Friendswood, TX 77549 [email protected] www.ascotmedia.com 281.333.3507 Phone
Strength Through Faith: 7 Uplifting Stories of Women Who Persevered
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Stories matter. They provide a compelling conduit through which we can connect with and impact other people, and never (it seems) has the power of story been more pronounced than in our era of social media sharing and influence.
Here to encourage everyone to embrace their own stories and share them in a way that could be of value to others is international speaker and sought-after story expert, Linda Olson. Her latest book, Story Matters! Empowering Your Hope When Going Through Tough Times, provides real-life examples of seven ordinary women, who, through their faith in God, rose above their circumstances and discovered a deeper fulfillment than they had ever imagined.
In this book, readers will learn:
How a single woman rose above childhood trauma to conquer fear and loneliness.
How a young mother moved through grief and loss when her young child was diagnosed with a terminal illness.
How a caring sister became embroiled in a devastating lawsuit and discovered that forgiveness is a choice.
How a middle-aged woman, faced with a choice to live or die, once again found joy.
How a career woman who achieved the many pleasures of the world discovered her real fulfillment was through commitment.
How a college student fulfilled her dream, only to find out her real dream lay deep within her.
How a teenager, devastated by the death of her brother, became a professional storyteller.
“All of these women wanted to give in and give up because they felt themselves giving out,” Olson said. “But something kept them going!”
And now they’re using the power of their stories to make a difference.
Linda Olson is the go-to-story expert who helps authors, speakers and entrepreneurs impact millions with their stories. She is a TEDx Speaker, multiple bestselling author and founder of Wealth Through Stories. Her mission is to impact a million people a year with multiple authors in her series, Story Matters! Linda and her husband, Rick, reside in sunny California. They enjoy their two married daughters, sons-in-law and five adorable grandchildren who are the best part of their story.
For more information, visit Wealththroughstories.com, or connect with the author on Facebook (Linda Olson).
Story Matters! Empowering Your Hope While Going Through Tough Times, Inspirational Stories Compiled by Linda A. Olson Publisher: Made for More Publishing ISBN-10: 098190145X ISBN-13: 978-0981901459 Available from Amazon.com
Trish Stevens Renee Winters Ascot Media Group, Inc. Post Office Box 2394 Friendswood, TX 77549 [email protected] www.ascotmedia.com 281.333.3507 Phone
Threatened by Rising Seas: Alaskan Village’s Culture Memorialized in Powerful True Story
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Few newlyweds would choose to embark upon married life by relocating to a remote, Inuit (Inupiaq) village with no electricity or running water. But at the age of 23, new bride Deanne Burch and her husband, Ernest “Tiger” Burch, who was conducting research for his Ph.D., did exactly that.
For months, the couple called Kivalina, Alaska, home. The environment and living conditions on the barrier island 83 miles above the Arctic Circle represent a culture that few people have inhabited, and scientists predict that Kivalina will be under water by 2025.
In Journey Through Fire and Ice: Shattered Dreams Above the Arctic Circle, Deanne pours her memories onto paper, immortalizing in vivid detail their experiences in one of our country’s most remote regions, including the ways in which the Inupiaq people supported the Burches throughout both exhilarating triumphs and agonizing tragedies.
In Kivalina, Deanne lived on the edge of two worlds — the one she left behind in the lower 48 and the one where she reluctantly participated in all aspects of the women’s lives. Skinning seals, cleaning and drying fish, and cutting beluga and caribou to store became her way of life. Plumbing, running water and electricity were not available. Loneliness was a constant companion until a few women befriended her.
During a span of six days, Deanne and Tiger narrowly escaped death during a camping trip, and Tiger suffered severe burns from a fire in their house. He spent three months in the hospital receiving treatment for seared lungs and horrific burns on his face and hands. His lungs never recovered from this ordeal.
When he was finally released from the hospital, he returned to the village with Deanne to complete the study. The life-threatening and harrowing experiences in Alaska transformed Deanne into a woman of strength who learned how to embrace challenge.
Over 50 years later, she remembers that young girl who left on an unknown journey that will live in her heart forever.
Author Deanne Burch was born and raised in Canada and attended the University of Toronto, obtaining B.A. degrees in liberal arts and social work. After the Alaska journey, she and her husband eventually settled in Camp Hill, Pennsylvania, where they lived until his death.
Deanne spent 30 years as a professional international photographer who taught and lectured in the U.S. and Canada. She published several articles in photography magazines and journals. Since retiring in 2014, she devoted herself to writing short stories and children’s stories. Journey Through Fire and Ice: Shattered Dreams Above the Arctic Circle was published in March 2021.
Journey Through Fire and Ice: Shattered Dreams Above the Arctic Circle Publisher: Authority Publishing ISBN-10: 1949642593 ISBN-13: 978-1949642599 Available from Amazon.com
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Being a teenager in today’s “age of anxiety” is scary. Being a parent of a teenager is even scarier. Zoomers may seem more together, more confident and more independent than prior generations, but in fact, they are more anxious, lonely and emotionally fragile, and less resilient to stress, says psychoanalyst, clinical social worker and parenting expert Erica Komisar.
“We are asking children to handle more — more stress, more stimulation, more pressure, more choices and more decisions — without giving them a secure foundation of support, emotional security, and real and meaningful connections,” says Komisar.
Her important new book, Chicken Little the Sky Isn’t Falling: Raising Resilient Adolescents in the New Age of Anxiety, is a comprehensive guide filled with compassionate and practical advice to help parents guide, educate and connect with their children on a range of current topics, including gender and sexual identity, anxiety and depression, disordered eating, ADHD, vaping, social media and bullying, to name a few.
Chicken Little also contains valuable insights intended to help readers prevent, recognize and address mental health disorders, as well as help their teens navigate academic and social pressures, social media and technology usage, increased social isolation and family pressures. With Komisar’s guidance and support, parents will learn how to be beacons of hope and change, as well as how to raise emotionally healthy, resilient adolescents.
About the Author Erica Komisar, LCSW, is a clinical social worker, psychoanalyst and parent guidance expert who has been in private practice in New York City for over 30 years. As a psychological consultant, she brings parenting workshops to schools, clinics, corporations and childcare settings. She is also a contributing editor to the Institute for Family Studies. She is a frequent contributor to The Wall Street Journal, The New York Daily News, The Washington Post and The Huffington Post.
Erica lives in New York City with her husband and is the mother of three adolescent children.
Chicken Little, the Sky Isn’t Falling: Raising Resilient Adolescents in the New Age of Anxiety Publisher: HCI Books Release Date: November 2, 2021 ISBN-10: 0757324002 ISBN-13: 9780757324000 Trade Paperback, 288 pages Available from Amazon.com
Trish Stevens Lindsey Mach Ascot Media Group, Inc. Post Office Box 2394 Friendswood, TX 77549 [email protected] www.ascotmedia.com 281.333.3507 Phone
World’s No. 1 STEAM Program Launches New STEM/STEAM Book Series
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“This is a great STEAM-infused addition to the fiction section of any elementary or middle school library.” — School Library Journal
With 120 franchise locations and a cumulative audience of 5 million children and thousands of schools, Challenge Island has been providing kids with award-winning STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math) learning adventures through field trips, afterschool enrichment classes, summer camps, scout workshops and family nights for almost two decades. On National Stem Day (Nov. 8), the magic of the world’s No. 1 STEAM program will combine with the magic of reading to launch the first book in the Challenge Island STEAM book series.
The Bridge to Sharktooth Island: A Challenge Island STEAM Adventure (West Margin Press) is written by award-winning educator Sharon Duke Estroff M.A.T. (founder and CEO of Challenge Island and author of Can I Have a Cell Phone for Hanukkah?, Penguin Random House); and award-winning author Joel Ross (Alley and Rex, Simon & Schuster; Fog Diver, HarperCollins; Beast & Crown, HarperCollins); and illustrated by Monica de Rivas (The Grumbles, Hatchette; Hello, Future Me, Scholastic; Big Bad Wolfsville, HarperCollins).
The Bridge to Sharktooth Island artfully intertwines action-packed fantasy with real-life engineering as cautious Daniel, his brave cousin Joy and their studious new friend Kimani find themselves suddenly stranded on a mysterious island surrounded by sharks. The kids find clues hidden around the island and realize that if they want to escape, they’ll have to work together to build the strongest bridge they can to get to safety! The characters return in the back of the book, where they speak directly and intimately to the reader, sharing engineering tidbits learned during their adventure, cool shark facts from Kimani’s notebook, and fun STEAM activities kids can do at home, including building a bridge, mixing up a blue slime ocean and designing ferocious paper sharks.
Making the Challenge Island book series even more groundbreaking is the fact that readers can experience the same STEAM adventures as the characters in the story in real life, through one of Challenge Island’s 120 franchise locations. For example, on National STEM Day, Stephanie Edwards, owner of Challenge Island Gilbert, AZ, will be running a Bridge to Sharktooth Island book launch celebration and field trip for 350 6th grade students at the American Leadership Academy. Edwards worked closely with the charter school’s leadership to create an unforgettable engineering adventure complete with balloon arches in the gymnasium, a professional photographer and a copy of The Bridge to Sharktooth Island for every student.
“As an educator, an author, a mom, and the creator of the Challenge Island program and curriculum, the release of the first book in the Challenge Island book series is among the proudest moments of my entire career,” says Sharon Duke Estroff, founder and CEO of Challenge Island Global. “But more importantly, I truly believe that this is exactly what kids need in this moment in time. What better way to reignite a child’s love of learning than by turning a beloved STEAM enrichment program into a fantastical new book series? And — for the millions more children who will first come to know Challenge Island inside the pages of this book — to see that magical story come to life, not only in their imaginations, but in the real world!”
The Bridge to Sharktooth Island: A Challenge Island STEAM Adventure Release Date: November 2, 2021 Publisher: West Margin Press ISBN-10: 1513289535 ISBN-13: 978-1513289533 Available from Amazon.com, BarnesandNoble.com, Target.com, Walmart.com and everywhere books are sold
Trish Stevens Rebecca Brown Ascot Media Group, Inc. Post Office Box 2394 Friendswood, TX 77549 [email protected] www.ascotmedia.com 281.333.3507 Phone
Fool’s Errand: Treasure Hunt Filled with Surprising Twists Offers the Perfect Escape
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The love between a father and a son can be both complicated and captivating, especially when the father is a charming rogue. “Blackie” Rinaldi had ties to the mob, and his only son has done all he can to avoid the pitfalls of his father’s chosen path. But when an enigmatic letter hinting at a cache of stolen money surfaces six years after Blackie’s untimely death, the younger Rinaldi is forced to confront his father’s colorful past.
An international treasure hunt ensues, with surprising twists and engaging characters. Fool’s Errand from Jeffrey S. Stephens, author of the popular Jordan Sandor series, is an entertaining story of family ties and a parent’s never-ending influence.
Blackie’s son follows a series of clues from the mean streets of New York to the Las Vegas Strip, and ultimately to the South of France. Along the way, he is confronted by dangerous mobsters, dishonest relatives, suspicious friends, a mysterious woman and the risks of a journey his father may or may not have planned for him.
With the ideal balance of humor and heart, adventure and romance, Fool’s Errand features compelling, relatable characters and a fast-paced narrative that will keep readers guessing as each new secret is revealed.
Author Jeffrey S. Stephens lives in Greenwich, Connecticut. He is also the author of the Jordan Sandor espionage thrillers, beginning with Targets of Deception and, most recently, Rogue Mission. He is also the author of the recent thriller, Crimes and Passion, the first in a planned series featuring Lieutenant Robbie Whyte.
Finally, a Modern Immigration Story with a Happy Ending: Rosa
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Author Lyndon Haynes’ new book, Rosa, strikes a chord with anyone who has ever had to overcome serious challenges in life.
Rosa flees Mexico as a teenager and eventually finds herself in London, at a loss to see a safe path forward. She has to learn a new language and culture while experiencing harsh realities during her bleak, lonely and formative teenage years.
“My book is a drama-themed story about the life of a young woman who comes to London with her brothers after the death of her parents,” Haynes said, adding that it could be described as “an urban Cinderella story with edge.”
Rosa and her brothers were transported overseas for their own safety, via a crime protection program, and there they found, in Haynes’ words, “An unrelenting heatwave … The city is a furnace, a sweatbox of people melting on their daily grind. Within the confines of one public housing building lies a coldness — a sharp icy blast of harsh, unforgiving betrayal. For one young family in particular, a wind of change is on the horizon … in fact, a storm is brewing so fierce that the wreckage it leaves behind will be injurious.”
Rosa meets a smart businessman who changes her life for the better and finally sees a hint of light, offering hope and freedom, but she soon realizes that every choice she makes will impact the world around her.
Author Lyndon Haynes was successful as an actor, songwriter, singer and music video director in Great Britain before turning his attention to literature. He hails from Tottenham, North London, and spent nearly 25 years in the music industry as a songwriter, rapper and music video director. He has also been a playwright, film and TV director, and rapper for the hip-hop band The Sindecut, which was signed by Virgin Records. His previous published books include This Functional Family, released by Book Guild Publishing in 2011, and The Life and Times of Stanley Spank, his first novel, which he published through Authorhouse.
For more information, please visit https://authorlyndonhaynes.com/, or connect with the author on Instagram (Mr_lyndonh), Twitter (LyndonHaynes) or Facebook (Lyndon Haynes).
Rosa Publisher: Publishing Push ISBN-10: 1802270574 ISBN-13: 978-1802270570 Available from Amazon.com
Trish Stevens Brenda Wright Ascot Media Group, Inc. Post Office Box 2394 Friendswood, TX 77549 [email protected] www.ascotmedia.com 281.333.3507 Phone
