Curious Minds: How Things Work unravels the science and mechanics behind everyday wonders. This fun and engaging book explains how various things around us—from the gadgets in our homes to natural phenomena—function in simple terms. Young readers will delight in the curious questions answered in a storytelling style, sparking a fascination for the world around them!
When Hurricane Katrina threatens New Orleans, Louisiana, 14-year-old Ricky Thompson and his family must flee the city. Unfortunately, traffic is backed up for miles, and there's no way out. As a last resort, the family takes shelter inside the Superdome, a football stadium turned into a rescue shelter for thousands of residents.
A searing, shocking book—part non-fiction, part novel—based on the true story of a child soldier in Uganda who survived war and enslavement and went on to create a haven for others who suffered a similar fate.
A story about life's lessons where family and friends demonstrate their commitment and trust to each other. Also has an environmental lesson about rain and evaporation. This is told in a heart-felt, but humorous and kid-friendly style.
The only thing worse than wet woollen togs, is a knife in the back… As the kiwi summer draws to a close, a family outing to the beach takes a deadly turn when a lifeless body washes up on shore. Grace is devastated to recognise the victim, Ricky, who worked in her friend’s bakery. But when the supposed drowning victim is rolled over, a shocking truth is revealed—he was murdered. Drawn into finding the murderer of the cheerful baker, Grace picks at the tangled web of secrets that surrounded Ricky. The man lived a double, or even triple, life. But which version of him had provoked the fatal encounter? Grace and her friends must find the person responsible, before another life is lost to the same tide of violence that claimed Ricky. This is the second instalment in the Grace Designs mystery series, about a seamstress turned sleuth in Wellington, New Zealand at the dawn of the 1920s.
This book contains two heart-warming fables with memorable characters that will stay with you long after you put the book down. In Brenda Bee Wannabe, Brenda Bee annoys her friends because shes always bragging about the things she owns. In Dont Lose Your Marbles, because of his jealous ways, Thomas Toad manages to lose more than his special bag of marbles. These charming tales help children understand some of lifes lesson in a humerous way.
Spike Gillespie tells it like it is. Whether she's writing about men, mothering or money, she cuts to the chase, unabashedly recounting the exhilaration and uncertainty she is forever encountering along the odd path that is her life. Gillespie approaches her subjects with a keen eye for curious details and a readiness to ask hard questions and give honest, even brutal, answers. Her willingness to "put it all down—the painful, the funny, the mundane, the embarrassing" has won legions of readers for her print and online columns. Surrender (But Don't Give Yourself Away) collects forty-six essays, which initially appeared in such publications as the Washington Post, Austin Chronicle, Dallas Morning News, Bust, Gargoyle, and thecommonspace.org. As Gillespie describes them, "There are odes to my good days and bad, to trips I've taken—both real and metaphorical, to holiness found in unexpected places, to men I have not slept with, to learning to live sober. Too, there are miscellaneous ruminations on my alter-ego, my inner-teen, the floor mat in my car, a dead squirrel in the road." Binding these pieces is the thread of hope: there are moments the thread slips out of view only to resurface in some unexpected location. Sometimes it takes awhile, but Gillespie always relocates hope, discovering even in her darkest times that life is full of an embarrassment of riches.
Founded by Robert M. Savini in 1933, Astor Pictures Corporation distributed hundreds of films in its 32 years of operation. The company distributed over 150 first run features in addition to the numerous re-releases for which it became famous. Astor had great success in the fields of horror and western movies and was a pioneer in African-American film productions. While under Savini's management, Astor and its subsidiaries were highly successful, but after his death in 1956 the company was sold, leading to eventual bankruptcy and closure. This volume provides the first in-depth look at Astor Pictures Corporation with thorough coverage of its releases, including diverse titles like La Dolce Vita and Frankenstein's Daughter.
