Lily Landon knows college is the ticket out of her boring small town and her first step to becoming a lawyer like the ones she watches on television. To help her applications stand out, Lily joins Green for Good, her school's environmental club, and meets Fiona, a passionate activist who will do everything it takes to protect the planet. As Lily grows closer to Fiona, she realizes ""everything it takes"" may mean getting arrested, and a criminal record does not look good on college applications. How can Lily save the Earth without destroying her future?
A portrait of African-American activist Geoffrey Canada describes his radical approach to eliminating inner-city poverty, one that proposes to transform the lives of poor children by changing their schools, their families, and their neighborhoods at the same time.
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.
EVERYTHING IS BORROWED - Takes On Life, Love, and the Perfect Michelada, a quirky blend of engaging words, intriguing photography, and bright graphics, offers inspiration and unflinching advice to help you be a successful, humble, modern gentleman. In offering pointers for achieving a surprise for your mate or a bucket list experience for yourself, Oscar T. Valdes wants you to live life on a larger, classier scale. Do you need to know how to make a delicious salsa, put up a hammock, or earn extra money without burning out? This short but impactful book supplies the answers and imparts lessons Valdes has learned so far in his interesting life. With a focus on accountability and perseverance balanced by suggestions for creating fun, taking time for yourself, and stretching your budget, EVERYTHING IS BORROWED challenges you to make the choices of a gentleman and gives detailed tips for a more enriching life, from making the perfect Michelada to taking better photos.
This illustrated narrative, suitable for all ages, is a distinctive collection of twenty inspiring stories told by The Supreme Master Ching Hai. Presented in lively and amusing comic strips and text, each story is replete with profound meanings that will touch the reader and fill the heart with bliss. The interesting and heart-warming parables will inspire youngsters to develop their potential in thinking, realization, and imagination. These comic strips convey noble truths in a way that is easy to understand, thereby enabling children to discover and absorb the Truth in a happily relaxed manner. In our present-day environment of complex and confusing information, this treasured collection will nourish the minds and souls of your children with the humor and wisdom of The Supreme Master Ching Hai.
Isabel, the youngest of a baseball-loving family, is afraid of getting hurt during a catch and of dropping the ball. With encouragement from her Mom, she gives it a try and realizes that, with practice, she can do it. She ultimately gets to show what she has learned at a minor league baseball game. For once, Isabel isnt only interested in the mascot and ice-cream at the game, but in having a catch with her family.
Redeeming Ruth is the inspirational, true story of an abandoned baby, a devastating diagnosis, and the way God loves broken, hurting people through us—even though we may be broken and hurt, too. When Meadow met her, Ruth was a sixteen-month-old child that some church friends were hosting from an orphanage in Uganda. She had cerebral palsy and was so weak she couldn’t lift her head. Meadow had always felt a call to adopt, but was this what God meant? Part family drama, part travel adventure, and part memoir, Redeeming Ruth is a heartwarming, against-all-odds story about the most unlikely pairing of a normal American family and a physically handicapped orphan girl from Uganda. Much more than an adoption story, this book explores what happens when we sacrificially reach out and share God’s love with others. Ruth’s story will attract families considering adoption, people raising or teaching children with special needs, caregivers, and those grieving the loss of a loved one, ministering to people with disabilities, or striving to serve God despite their own wounded hearts and broken dreams. Features:Includes a Reader’s Guide at the end of the book for each chapter for group discussion or personal reflection.An eight-page insert with personal photos will be included.All personal proceeds from this book benefit an African missions organization.Meadow Rue Merrill is an award-winning journalist with two decades of published writing experience. She is also a contributing writer for “Motherlode,” a popular column of the New York Times. She began reporting for The Times Record, a daily newspaper in Brunswick, Maine, and spent the following eight years corresponding for The Boston Globe. Most recently she has written for Harvard University. She has regular columns with The Portland Press Herald, Maine’s largest newspaper and Down East magazine.
Risk everything for love with this #1 New York Times bestseller from Nicola Yoon • "Gorgeous and lyrical"—The New York Times Book Review What if you couldn’t touch anything in the outside world? Never breathe in the fresh air, feel the sun warm your face . . . or kiss the boy next door? In Everything, Everything, Maddy is a girl who’s literally allergic to the outside world, and Olly is the boy who moves in next door . . . and becomes the greatest risk she’s ever taken. "This extraordinary first novel about love so strong it might kill us is too good to feel like a debut. Tender, creative, beautifully written, and with a great twist, Everything, Everything is one of the best books I've read this year."—Jodi Picoult My disease is as rare as it is famous. Basically, I’m allergic to the world. I don’t leave my house, have not left my house in seventeen years. The only people I ever see are my mom and my nurse, Carla. But then one day, a moving truck arrives next door. I look out my window, and I see him. He's tall, lean and wearing all black—black T-shirt, black jeans, black sneakers, and a black knit cap that covers his hair completely. He catches me looking and stares at me. I stare right back. His name is Olly. Maybe we can’t predict the future, but we can predict some things. For example, I am certainly going to fall in love with Olly. It’s almost certainly going to be a disaster. Everything, Everything will make you laugh, cry, and feel everything in between. It's an innovative, inspiring, and heartbreakingly romantic debut novel that unfolds via vignettes, diary entries, illustrations, and more. And don’t miss Nicola Yoon's bestselling novels The Sun Is Also A Star and Instructions for Dancing.
Set against the wild beauty of Montana as a woman attempts to heal from a devastating accident, this generational saga from the award-winning author of The Widow Nash is a heartfelt examination of how the deep bonds of family echo throughout our lives. For Polly, the small town of Livingston, Montana, is a land charmed by raw, natural beauty and a close network of family that extends back generations. But the summer of 2002 finds Polly at a crossroads: a recent head injury has scattered her perception of the present, bringing to the surface long-forgotten events. As Polly's many relatives arrive for a family reunion during the Fourth of July holiday, a beloved friend goes missing on the Yellowstone River. Search parties comb the river as carefully as Polly combs her mind, and over the course of one fateful week, Polly arrives at a deeper understanding of herself and her larger-than-life relatives. Weaving together the past and the present, from the shores of Long Island Sound to the landscape of Montana, The Center of Everything examines with profound insight the memories and touchstones that make up a life and what we must endure along the way.
