Books by Harriet May Savitz

"After a bout with cancer and becoming a widow, I found myself silent for more than a year, with nothing to say as a writer. Having previously written two dozen published books for children and young adults, I now thought I would never write again. It has been twelve years since I joined a support group so that I might be able to function.. Writing about my journey as a single woman and cancer survivor has helped me keep going. Every change in my new life soon became an essay, each victory or defeat a reason to dash to the computer and share the experience with someone who might benefit from my discoveries.. I am not the only one keeping it going in this book. Each week I meet with a dozen others who are keeping it going also. Most are over seventy years old and have survived health issues and personal life changes. All are choosing to write about them. In their writings, I find wisdom, humor, inspiration, frustration, and just plain good story telling. Each week we sit at a round table with notebooks and pens in hand. Each week we do not know what will be said or what ideas will be presented. Our writing adventure continues as it has for the past several years. We gain support and courage from each other as we travel down the road of unknowns. We invite you to join us." Harriet May Savitz is a contributor to fourteen Chicken Soup for the Soul books. Her book, "Run, Don't Walk," was made into an ABC Afterschool Special produced by Henry Winkler. Her essays appear in newspapers and magazines.

Skip loves swimming in the ocean. It's the perfect place to sort things out. Since his father moved away, he and his mom have been taking care of their big old boardinghouse alone. A whole summer of changing light bulbs and running errands for the tourists. Then skip meets swimmer. The big friendly dog swims with him every morning. Swimmer doesn't have an owner and Skip wants him. He's the only friend Skip has had all summer. But Skip can't take Swimmer home because his mom won't let him have a pet at the house. One thing is certain, though. Skip is not going to desert his dog. He needs Swimmer just as much as Swimmer needs him.

"The book shows how, for those who are blind, attitudes about blindness play an important part in the success of everything in life. Laurie has to work through her own attitudes about herself when others treat her differently because she is blind. ...I plan to give each of my nieces a copy of the book for Christmas. It will help the younger members of our family grow up with a better philosophy about blind people." --Peggy Chong - Minnesota Bulletin- a quarterly publication of the National Federation of the Blind of Minnesota Reprinted in Future Reflections, The National Federation of the Blind Magazine for Parents of Blind Children

"Are you afraid?" Making friends isn't easy, Allan realizes, especially when you're the new kid in town. Since moving to Ocean View, Allan has spent most of his time alone, out at Silver Lake, watching the geese and the beautiful, graceful white ducks he calls snowbirds. So Allan is grateful when Tony and Pete let him hang out with them. Until the day they start throwing rocks at the birds, and daring Allan to hit one. "What are you, afraid?" they tease. "Maybe we just won't call you anymore. You're scared to do anything."Allan wants to belong, but will he have to attack the birds to prove himself? And is it worth it?

"I have lived through a Depression, World War 11, a polio epidemic, life in the suburbs, activism, bra burning, a sexual revolution, cancer and widowhood. I have been with women who believed they belonged in the kitchen and women who left their husbands to get out of it. I had a mother who rarely said what she felt because women did not back then, and I determined to be different, and never shut my mouth. In these essays, I am sometimes angry, sad, joyful, excited, sensual, exploring and amazed. Be prepared for honesty and some soul searching. And remember that at my age, I can be even braver than ever before about what I dare to say or even what I dare to do."