In expressive black-and-white lines with forays into bold Cubism, Fleener tells the story of Billie the Bee, who is too big, too fast, and has far too much personality to simply collect pollen. So, the Queen Bee (with ulterior motives) sends Billie out to patrol the woodlands and marshes of San Diego for danger. She encounters a heron on hallucinogens, dirty joke-telling turtles, and humans illegally releasing vermin that will unbalance the entire ecosystem. Mixing coming-of-age graphic fiction with facts about bees and the environment, Fleener’s Billie the Bee is both a great reintroduction to a comics talent and ripped from the headlines.
In this gorgeous story from the blockbuster chapter-book series, Billie B Brown wants to save the bees! In The Honey Bees, Billie has a super-dooper new idea: to build a beehive! But why is Jack so upset about her plan? Written by the Australian Children’s Laureate Sally Rippin, Billie B Brown is the perfect first chapter-book series. Every down-to-earth story follows bold, brilliant Billie as she uses her imagination to tackle a new challenge, whether it’s about friends, family or feelings. With her best friend, Jack, by her side, there’s nothing Billie can’t do! With more than ten million books in print around the world, Billie B Brown has helped a generation of readers love learning to read. Each book is carefully designed with short chapters, decodable vocabulary and lots of illustrations, and there are no mountains of text or super-tricky words to intimidate the early reader. And there’s plenty of books in the Billie B Brown series to explore! For more wonderful series by Australian Children’s Laureate Sally Rippin, check out the Hey Jack! and School of Monsters series. Readers will love other books in the Billie B Brown! series: The Bad Butterfly The Soccer Star The Midnight Feast The Best Day Ever The Snow Day The Wonderful Wedding and many more!
"Cathleen Young's characters will forever have a place in my heart." --Holly Goldberg Sloan, author of Counting by 7s Former best friends compete to see who can grow the biggest pumpkin and win the annual giant pumpkin race on the lake. A great pick for fans of Half a Chance and Gertie's Leap to Greatness. At the end of every summer, Madeline Island hosts its famous pumpkin race. All summer, adults and kids across the island grow giant, thousand-pound pumpkins, then hollow one out and paddle in it across the lake to the cheers of the entire town. Twelve-year-old Billie loves to win; she has a bulletin board overflowing with first-prize ribbons. Her best friend Sam doesn't care much about winning, or at least Billie didn't think so until last summer's race, when his pumpkin crashed into hers as she was about to cross the finish line and he won. This summer, Billie is determined to get revenge by growing the best and biggest pumpkin and beating Sam in the race. It's a tricky science to grow pumpkins, since weather, bugs, and critters can wipe out a crop. Then a surprise visit from a long-lost relative shakes things up, and Billie begins to see her family, and her bond with Sam, in a new way.
The Billie B Brown adventures are perfect for girls who are desperate to begin reading but are bored by daggy school readers! Billie and Jack are camping in Jack's backyard. But it's very dark. And maybe just a little bit scary. Are they really big enough to camp all on their own?
Mae Murray (1885–1965), popularly known as "the girl with the bee-stung lips," was a fiery presence in silent-era Hollywood. Renowned for her classic beauty and charismatic presence, she rocketed to stardom as a dancer in the Ziegfeld Follies, moving across the country to star in her first film, To Have and to Hold, in 1916. An instant hit with audiences, Murray soon became one of the most famous names in Tinseltown. However, Murray's moment in the spotlight was fleeting. The introduction of talkies, a string of failed marriages, a serious career blunder, and a number of bitter legal battles left the former star in a state of poverty and mental instability that she would never overcome. In this intriguing biography, Michael G. Ankerich traces Murray's career from the footlights of Broadway to the klieg lights of Hollywood, recounting her impressive body of work on the stage and screen and charting her rapid ascent to fame and decline into obscurity. Featuring exclusive interviews with Murray's only son, Daniel, and with actor George Hamilton, whom the actress closely befriended at the end of her life, Ankerich restores this important figure in early film to the limelight.
Billy Showell is a well-respected botanical watercolour artist, and her exceptional eye for detail and ability to re-create the form, texture, colour and patterning of a wide range of plants have earned her a formidable reputation worldwide. Her compositions are given a contemporary, sometimes playful twist, while retaining all the beauty and accuracy of traditional botanical paintings. In this inspiring and indispensable guide for botanical artists, she reveals the materials, methods and techniques she uses to attain her stunningly beautiful portraits of flowers, fruit and vegetables. There is expert guidance on tools and materials, working from life, observation, and drawing and painting techniques, as well as detailed sections on pattern, texture, and colour and colour mixing. With numerous step-by-step studies, close-up photographs and examples of Billy's exquisite paintings, this book is not only packed full of invaluable advice and information but also a visually stunning showcase for the work of this amazing artist.
NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER • An inspiring and intimate self-portrait of the champion of equality that encompasses her brilliant tennis career, unwavering activism, and an ongoing commitment to fairness and social justice. “A story about the personal strength, immense growth, and undeniable greatness of one woman who fearlessly stood up to a culture trying to break her down.”—Serena Williams In this spirited account, Billie Jean King details her life's journey to find her true self. She recounts her groundbreaking tennis career—six years as the top-ranked woman in the world, twenty Wimbledon championships, thirty-nine grand-slam titles, and her watershed defeat of Bobby Riggs in the famous "Battle of the Sexes." She poignantly recalls the cultural backdrop of those years and the profound impact on her worldview from the women's movement, the assassinations and anti-war protests of the 1960s, the civil rights movement, and, eventually, the LGBTQ+ rights movement. She describes the myriad challenges she's hurdled—entrenched sexism, an eating disorder, near financial peril after being outed—on her path to publicly and unequivocally acknowledging her sexual identity at the age of fifty-one. She talks about how her life today remains one of indefatigable service. She offers insights and advice on leadership, business, activism, sports, politics, marriage equality, parenting, sexuality, and love. And she shows how living honestly and openly has had a transformative effect on her relationships and happiness. Hers is the story of a pathbreaking feminist, a world-class athlete, and an indomitable spirit whose impact has transcended even her spectacular achievements in sports.
