A very small mouse sets out to find something special―the biggest creature in the world. Along her journey, she meets a menagerie of animals who want to join her in her quest, including a frog, a badger, and a tiger. She visits lakes, rivers, woods, and even climbs a mountain and stops by a zoo. Finally, she arrives at the ocean. Will she finally find the biggest animal of all? From the world-renowned team of author Brian Patten and illustrator Nicola Bayley, this gentle story is a celebration of the world's wide variety of living creatures. While the poetic text and cumulative tale treatment pull readers along, the gorgeous colored pencil art will have little ones lost in the wonders of the natural world.
Anger, fear, and uncertainty power the first day this horse and woman meet. The horse, six-months old, the woman, barely out of her teens, are to bond for life. But how is this going to happen? You Come Too is a compelling invitation to all animal lovers who appreciate the depth of feeling and meaning pets bring into our lives. The author of this true story, Susan Schroder, artfully describes behaviors her equine heroine exhibits, giving the reader an intimate view of their relationship. This unique story focuses on the horse and her adaptation to the human world including her strong need to belong, to learn, to love, to heal, to play, and to get what she wants. It is heartwarming and inspirational. Beware. It may even change the reader’s idea about how this majestic species interplays with life. New York Times bestselling author (The Good Good Pig) and naturalist Sy Montgomery writes, “You Come Too is riveting, beautifully crafted, full of love and insight, and has a powerful narrative arc. Everyone who has ever loved an animal will relate to this book – and even those who have known horses for years will learn something new from it.” Best Selling author (The Dog Who Loved Too Much), world renown animal behaviorist, and founding member of Veterinarians for Equine Welfare Nicholas Dodman, DVM writes; “You Come Too is a beautifully written saga of a 28-year relationship between the author and her horse in which both came to deeply understand and trust the other. The connection between them was almost spiritual. The end of the story is very moving and testifies to the powerful and eternal bond of love that a person can have with an animal.”
Robert Frost observed in his wife, Elinor, a desire to live "a life that goes rather poetically." The same could be said of many members of the Frost family, over several generations. In You Come Too, Frost’s granddaughter, Lesley Lee Francis, combines priceless personal memories and rigorous research to create a portrait of Frost and the women, including herself, whose lives he touched. Francis provides a vivid picture of Frost the family man, revealing him to be intensely engaged rather than the aloof artist that is commonly portrayed. She shares with us the devastation Frost and Elinor experienced when faced with tragic illnesses, both physical and mental, and the untimely death of family members. Elinor’s own death added to the poet’s despair and unleashed complex feelings throughout the family. (Francis’s mother would lament the toll taken on Elinor by what she perceived as Frost’s "selfishness" in the life he had chosen.) This is also the story of Lesley Frost, Francis’s remarkable mother, who struggled to emerge from her celebrated father’s shadow, while, as one of the people closest to him, sharing his intuitive impulse to write and to indulge their mutual love of books and poetry. Francis would herself become yet another writer and, like her grandfather and mother before her, a teacher--despite sharing Frost’s sense of being "imperfectly academic." In addition, Francis explores Frost’s professional relationships with women outside the family, such as the poets Harriet Monroe, Amy Lowell, and Susan Hayes Ward. Francis’s invaluable insights into Frost’s poetry and her inclusion of previously unpublished family writings and photographs make this book essential to Frost scholarship. But You Come Too will appeal to anyone interested in this great poet’s life and work. It also reveals unforgettable stories of strong, independent women and their passion to create and share poetry.
All the World’s Reward presents ninety-eight tales from Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Swedish-speaking Finland, and Iceland. Each area is represented by the complete recorded repertoire of a single storyteller. Such a focus helps place the stories in the context of the communities in which they were performed and also reveals how individual folk artists used the medium of oral literature to make statements about their lives and their world. Some preferred jocular stories and others wonder tales; some performed mostly for adults, others for children; some used storytelling to criticize society, and others spun wish fulfillment tales to find relief from a harsh reality. For the most part collected a century ago, the stories were gleaned from archives and printed sources; the Icelandic repertoire was collected on audiotape in the 1960s. Each repertoire was selected by a noted folklorist. Introductions to the storytellers and collectors and commentaries and references for the tales are provided. A general introduction, a comprehensive bibliography, and an index of the tales according to Aarne-Thompson’s typology are also included. Period illustrations add charm to the stories.
I Can’t Wait To Be On TV! is the story of four animal runaways who travel together in search of fame and fortune, in an X Factor style animal ‘TV Talent Contest’. Domble is a hard working donkey, Dribbleis a badly treated dog, Caruso is a noisy cockerel and Calamity, an opera singing cat, is determined to be a star. The story begins when Domble’s farmer decides to get rid of him. Since he fell and hurt his leg, the donkey can no longer carry hay and has been replaced by a new, stronger carthorse. While waiting to be sent away, Domble finds out about the contest in the park. He decides that his only hope is to leave the farm and win the contest, which takes place the next day. The contest posters promise a life of glamour to the winners, who will be ‘groomed for stardom’. However, the four friends arrive late to the contest and after a terrible performance are booed off stage. They now realise they have no homes and no future. Their dreams of stardom are shattered. But they soon realise that the contest is not all it seems and that winning isn’t everything. Before long, they find out that the contest winners are in terrible danger. The four plan a rescue operation to free the animals involved, in a race against time. Can three animals and a bird manage to save the animals from a dreadful fate? I Can’t Wait To Be On TV! is a beautifully illustrated work of fiction for children aged 7-10. It brings a modern twist to an old Grimm’s folk tale with hints of 101 Dalmatians and Animal Farm.
Forget the 10,000 hour rule— what if it’s possible to learn the basics of any new skill in 20 hours or less? Take a moment to consider how many things you want to learn to do. What’s on your list? What’s holding you back from getting started? Are you worried about the time and effort it takes to acquire new skills—time you don’t have and effort you can’t spare? Research suggests it takes 10,000 hours to develop a new skill. In this nonstop world when will you ever find that much time and energy? To make matters worse, the early hours of practicing something new are always the most frustrating. That’s why it’s difficult to learn how to speak a new language, play an instrument, hit a golf ball, or shoot great photos. It’s so much easier to watch TV or surf the web . . . In The First 20 Hours, Josh Kaufman offers a systematic approach to rapid skill acquisition— how to learn any new skill as quickly as possible. His method shows you how to deconstruct complex skills, maximize productive practice, and remove common learning barriers. By completing just 20 hours of focused, deliberate practice you’ll go from knowing absolutely nothing to performing noticeably well. Kaufman personally field-tested the methods in this book. You’ll have a front row seat as he develops a personal yoga practice, writes his own web-based computer programs, teaches himself to touch type on a nonstandard keyboard, explores the oldest and most complex board game in history, picks up the ukulele, and learns how to windsurf. Here are a few of the simple techniques he teaches: Define your target performance level: Figure out what your desired level of skill looks like, what you’re trying to achieve, and what you’ll be able to do when you’re done. The more specific, the better. Deconstruct the skill: Most of the things we think of as skills are actually bundles of smaller subskills. If you break down the subcomponents, it’s easier to figure out which ones are most important and practice those first. Eliminate barriers to practice: Removing common distractions and unnecessary effort makes it much easier to sit down and focus on deliberate practice. Create fast feedback loops: Getting accurate, real-time information about how well you’re performing during practice makes it much easier to improve. Whether you want to paint a portrait, launch a start-up, fly an airplane, or juggle flaming chainsaws, The First 20 Hours will help you pick up the basics of any skill in record time . . . and have more fun along the way.
A charming portrait of young sisterhood, where running away from home is made a lot more fun when your family comes too. This is the author's third book, but she has illustrated more than 40 children's books.
Misti B.’s incisive and irreverent meditations offer daily doses of humor, healing, and hope for the tragedies, triumphs, and everyday aggravations that come with codependency. If You Leave Me, Can I Come with You? proves that we can laugh at ourselves and still take our recovery seriously. Infusing hard-earned wisdom with self-revealing honesty and fearless humor, Misti B. shines a healing light into the confusions and contradictions, as well as the self-defeating thoughts and actions, that codependents and those in Al-Anon frequently face. Misti’s refreshingly original daily meditations tackle issues such as people-pleasing, lack of boundaries, and perfectionism. On this yearlong journey, she shows how these habits don’t have to overwhelm us if we work a solid Twelve Step program—and learn to take ourselves lightly. This book delivers the right mix of support, inspiration, and irreverence
