Trudell "Tru" Becket finds herself in a bind when her library in lovely Cypress, South Carolina, is turned into a state-of-the-art bookless "technological center." She decides to rescue hundreds of books slated for the town dump, and along with her best friends-coffee shop owner Tori Green and author Flossie Finnegan-Baker, sets up a secret bookroom in the library's basement. When the town manager, who was behind the big push for the library's transformation, is crushed by an overturned shelf of DVDs, Tru becomes the prime suspect. Faster than you can say "Shhhh!" Tru quickly finds herself on the same page with a killer who would love to write her final chapter. -- adapted from publisher info.
Understanding Video Games is a crucial guide for newcomers to video game studies and experienced game scholars alike. This revised and updated third edition of the pioneering text provides a comprehensive introduction to the field of game studies, and highlights changes in the gaming industry, advances in video game scholarship, and recent trends in game design and development—including mobile, casual, educational, and indie gaming. In the third edition of this textbook, students will: Learn the major theories and schools of thought used to study games, including ludology and narratology; Understand the commercial and organizational aspects of the game industry; Trace the history of games, from the board games of ancient Egypt to the rise of mobile gaming; Explore the aesthetics of game design, including rules, graphics, audio, and time; Analyze the narrative strategies and genre approaches used in video games; Consider the debate surrounding the effects of violent video games and the impact of "serious games." Featuring discussion questions, recommended games, a glossary of key terms, and an interactive online video game history timeline, Understanding Video Games provides a valuable resource for anyone interested in examining the ways video games are reshaping entertainment and society.
Kathleen Sullivan¿s experiences as part of a criminal network that includes Intelligence personnel, military personnel, doctors and mental health professionals contracted by the military and the CIA, criminal cult leaders and members, pedophiles, pornographers, drug dealers and Nazis. ¿I¿m not an exhibitionist,¿ writes Kathleen. ¿I value my privacy. And yet, I believe my story needs to be told so that more people will understand how `Manchurian Candidate¿ style mind-control techniques can create alter-states in the mind¿s unwitting victims, causing them to perform deeds that are normally repugnant.¿
Twelve thrilling and terrifying space-mission failures, told by the bestselling author of Apollo 13! There are so many amazing, daring, and exciting missions to outer space that have succeeded. But for every success, there are mistakes, surprises, and flat-out failures that happen along the way. In this collection, bestselling author and award-winning journalist Jeffrey Kluger recounts twelve such disasters, telling the stories of the astronauts and the cosmonauts, the trials and the errors, the missions and the misses. With stories of missions run by both Americans and Russians during the height of the space race, complete with photos of the people and machines behind them, this book delves into the mishaps and the tragedies, small and large, that led humankind to the moon and beyond. Praise for Disaster Strikes!: * "A thrill ride punctuated with spectacular failures--but also spectacular successes." --Kirkus Reviews, starred review * "The [is] text versatile, efficiently functioning as a collection of short reads or a balanced, book-length narrative . . . Always fascinating, at times unsettling, and highly recommended for elementary and middle school collections." --SLJ, starred review "Each compelling episode is crafted as a self-standing adventure, with an opening hook and a satisfying close, making this an excellent source for readalouds for middle-school classes as well as a pleasure for independent readers." --BCCB "Kluger manages to combine suspenseful storytelling with scientific writing, showcasing the successes of the programs alongside the failures that ended in death or near misses for astronauts. Even students who claim that they don’t like to read will find these 'you-are-there' moments totally engaging." --SLC
