Picture Book Winner of the 2016 Social Justice Literature Award Ursula, a bear, and Ricardo, a human, are preparing for the water ballet competition, where the prize is a million dollars! But a new regulation at the community pool--no bears--leaves Ursula cut from the contest. Luckily, she encounters a group of undaunted animal swimmers at a local pond, and Ursula and her new team figure out a way to participate in the competition and make sure everyone is welcome at the pool once and for all. Filled with deadpan humor, adorable animals, and big themes about social justice and inclusion, Liz Starin's picture book Splashdance is a fun and splashy summer story with a lot of heart.
Harry Hammer enters a school dance contest in hopes of winning a fin-tastic prize in this sixth Shark School (mis)adventure. Everyone in Shark Point is talking about the end-of-the-year school party. There’s a dance contest with a super-cool Fintendo DS game system up for grabs! Harry’s got his eye on the prize, but he needs someone to help him with his moves...especially when number one enemy Rick Reef enters the contest. Can Harry get into his groove and beat the competition?
Under the Tuscan Sun meets the wide-open sea . . . An Embarrassment of Mangoes is a delicious chronicle of leaving the type-A lifestyle behind -- and discovering the seductive secrets of life in the Caribbean. Who hasn’t fantasized about chucking the job, saying goodbye to the rat race, and escaping to some exotic destination in search of sun, sand, and a different way of life? Canadians Ann Vanderhoof and her husband, Steve did just that. In the mid 1990s, they were driven, forty-something professionals who were desperate for a break from their deadline-dominated, career-defined lives. So they quit their jobs, rented out their house, moved onto a 42-foot sailboat called Receta (“recipe,” in Spanish), and set sail for the Caribbean on a two-year voyage of culinary and cultural discovery. In lavish detail that will have you packing your swimsuit and dashing for the airport, Vanderhoof describes the sun-drenched landscapes, enchanting characters and mouthwatering tastes that season their new lifestyle. Come along for the ride and be seduced by Caribbean rhythms as she and Steve sip rum with their island neighbors, hike lush rain forests, pull their supper out of the sea, and adapt to life on “island time.” Exchanging business clothes for bare feet, they drop anchor in 16 countries -- 47 individual islands -- where they explore secluded beaches and shop lively local markets. Along the way, Ann records the delectable dishes they encounter -- from cracked conch in the Bahamas to curried lobster in Grenada, from Dominican papaya salsa to classic West Indian rum punch -- and incorporates these enticing recipes into the text so that readers can participate in the adventure. Almost as good as making the journey itself, An Embarrassment of Mangoes is an intimate account that conjures all the irresistible beauty and bounty from the Bahamas to Trinidad -- and just may compel you to make a rash decision that will land you in paradise.
Around the world there are grandparents, parents, and children who can still sing ditties by Tigger or Baloo the Bear or the Seven Dwarves. This staying power and global reach is in large part a testimony to the pizzazz of performers, songwriters, and other creative artists who worked with Walt Disney Records. Mouse Tracks: The Story of Walt Disney Records chronicles for the first time the fifty-year history of the Disney recording companies launched by Walt Disney and Roy Disney in the mid-1950s, when Disneyland Park, Davy Crockett, and the Mickey Mouse Club were taking the world by storm. The book provides a perspective on all-time Disney favorites and features anecdotes, reminiscences, and biographies of the artists who brought Disney magic to audio. Authors Tim Hollis and Greg Ehrbar go behind the scenes at the Walt Disney Studios and discover that in the early days Walt Disney and Roy Disney resisted going into the record business before the success of "The Ballad of Davy Crockett" ignited the in-house label. Along the way, the book traces the recording adventures of such Disney favorites as Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Cinderella, Bambi, Jiminy Cricket, Winnie the Pooh, and even Walt Disney himself. Mouse Tracks reveals the struggles, major successes, and occasional misfires. Included are impressions and details of teen-pop princesses Annette Funicello and Hayley Mills, the Mary Poppins phenomenon, a Disney-style "British Invasion," and a low period when sagging sales forced Walt Disney to suggest closing the division down. Complementing each chapter are brief performer biographies, reproductions of album covers and art, and facsimiles of related promotional material. Mouse Tracks is a collector's bonanza of information on this little-analyzed side of the Disney empire. Learn more about the book and the authors at www.mousetracksonline.com.
Would you like to experience more happiness and spontaneity in your life? Do you feel life isn’t as fun and exciting as it could be and crave more positivity, closer relationships, and a deeper understanding of what matters most to you? You need to play! In the book, The Power of Play: Optimize Your Joy Potential, you will discover how igniting joy and uplifting experiences through the power of play can transform your life, help you through challenging times and even lead you on a path to appreciation and great fulfillment. Play positively matters. From International award-winning fitness professionals and two leading voices advancing the science of applied Positive Psychology and the art of well-being, Elaine O’Brien, Ph.D., and Andrea Seydel are devoted to sharing the science and ways to enhance your life through play. You will discover valuable cutting-edge research and hundreds of FUNTANEOUS activities created to spark your energy, ease your stress, and increase your happiness. You don’t want to underestimate the power of play. Learn the secret of creating a “play mindset” that sparks meaning, loving connections, mastery, and laughs. In this playbook for grownups, you will learn to “optimize your joy potential,” the capacity to be open to experiences of joy, by harnessing your self-awareness, happy habits, and positive action. It’s vital and in your power to play, learn, move, rest, be in nature, perform, and live with wonder every day. Elaine and Andrea will show you how valuing play safeguards your mental health and is essential to your life. The Power of Play: Optimize Your Joy Potentialis designed to show you how you can have much more fun and be happier and healthier. The Power of Play is a game changer.
Kassa Daggersharp has just heard word that her dad's dead and she's heir to a vast silver treasure trove from the famous Splashdance pirate ship. But in grand pirate tradition, the last will and testament of Vicious Bigbeard Daggersharp doesn't actually say where the silver is. And to add to Kassa's woes, everyone - from legendary royal champion and pin-up boy Aragon Silversword to the Lady Emperor Talle - seems to be trying to find and claim the silver for themselves. This hilarious story of the race for the Splashdance silver is about pirates and politics, treasure and traitors, epic adventures, magical mysteries, nearly-true-love and things which glint in the night.
