"A unique handbook of 150 productive activities to engage lively students. Designed especially for teachers, substitutes and parents, this book features an outstanding range of flexible ideas that take from ten minutes to thirty minutes to complete."--Page 4 of cover.
An insider’s look at baseball’s unwritten rules, explained with examples from the game’s most fascinating characters and wildest historical moments. Everyone knows that baseball is a game of intricate regulations, but it turns out to be even more complicated than we realize. All aspects of baseball—hitting, pitching, and baserunning—are affected by the Code, a set of unwritten rules that governs the Major League game. Some of these rules are openly discussed (don’t steal a base with a big lead late in the game), while others are known only to a minority of players (don’t cross between the catcher and the pitcher on the way to the batter’s box). In The Baseball Codes, old-timers and all-time greats share their insights into the game’s most hallowed—and least known—traditions. For the learned and the casual baseball fan alike, the result is illuminating and thoroughly entertaining. At the heart of this book are incredible and often hilarious stories involving national heroes (like Mickey Mantle and Willie Mays) and notorious headhunters (like Bob Gibson and Don Drysdale) in a century-long series of confrontations over respect, honor, and the soul of the game. With The Baseball Codes, we see for the first time the game as it’s actually played, through the eyes of the players on the field. With rollicking stories from the past and new perspectives on baseball’s informal rulebook, The Baseball Codes is a must for every fan.
Before you plan your family’s next excursion in Southern California, get some help from a travel professional… and your kids! The Kid’s Guide to Southern California lets the kids help plan the trip and guides you as you explore the region. Inside you’ll find kid-tested tips on where to go, where to eat, what to see, and where to get the best souvenirs. Along the way, your kids will be engaged by reading and sharing fun California facts and cool travel tips. Awesome games and quizzes will keep the family entertained.
A pocket-sized brain gym! Mental games, visual conundrums, logic posers, riddles, illusions—in all, over 500 dazzling, full-color puzzles designed to stretch neurons and shake up your usual way of thinking. Be creative. Be challenged. Push your brain in different directions. The puzzles are organized by 12 types with 10 levels of difficulty, each designed to make you feel more curious, intuitive, engaged, and smarter. Written by David L. Hoyt, the most syndicated puzzle writer in the country, with Merriam-Webster, America’s most trusted dictionary. All in a travel-friendly, gift-friendly 4" x 6" chunky size. In Mixed-Up Definition, unscramble the letters to reveal the definition of a given word. In Syllabary, use the clues to link syllables in a grid to create words. In Cross’d Word Connections, find the letters in common to help solve a series of four crossword puzzles. Plus Dictionary Race Winder, Make the Connection, Color Word Chains, Prism Word Finder, and other clever riffs on word searches. The book features 20 puzzle types, which are arranged in a mixed fashion throughout for maximum variety and stimulation. They range in difficulty from an easy “1” to a brain-busting “10”—so puzzle lovers of all skill levels will be tested— and include spaces for recording completion times. Each puzzle type is explained in clear instructions, and all answers are printed in the back.
Based on the science that shows that people middle-aged or older who solve word games and brainteasers have a significant cognitive advantage over those who do not, 399 Games, Puzzles & Trivia Challenges is the illustrated game book specifically created to cross-train the brain. Here are 399 games to stretch, challenge, and push the reader, all of which stimulate the formation of neurons—literally, regrowing the brain. Plus they’re not only good for you, but just plain good—these games are fun. 399 Games, Puzzles & Trivia is a lively mix of challenges, riddles, and brainteasers—all vetted by a neuroscientist who specializes in aging brains and designed to work the six key areas of cognitive function that are vulnerable in normal aging: long-term memory, working memory, executive functioning, attention to detail, multitasking, and processing speed. The games are arranged from easiest to most difficult and are labeled according to which cognitive functions they exercise so they can be mixed and matched into a custom “workout.” In just 15 minutes a day, anyone can improve his brain’s strength, flexibility, and long-term health.
Help children of all learning styles and strengths improve their critical thinking skills with these creative, cross-curricular activities. Each engaging activity focuses on skills such as recognizing and recalling, evaluating, and analyzing.
NATIONAL BESTSELLER • From The New York Times baseball columnist, an enchanting, enthralling history of the national pastime as told through the craft of pitching, based on years of archival research and interviews with more than three hundred people from Hall of Famers to the stars of today. The baseball is an amazing plaything. We can grip it and hold it so many different ways, and even the slightest calibration can turn an ordinary pitch into a weapon to thwart the greatest hitters in the world. Each pitch has its own history, evolving through the decades as the masters pass it down to the next generation. From the earliest days of the game, when Candy Cummings dreamed up the curveball while flinging clamshells on a Brooklyn beach, pitchers have never stopped innovating. In K: A History of Baseball in Ten Pitches, Tyler Kepner traces the colorful stories and fascinating folklore behind the ten major pitches. Each chapter highlights a different pitch, from the blazing fastball to the fluttering knuckleball to the slippery spitball. Infusing every page with infectious passion for the game, Kepner brings readers inside the minds of combatants sixty feet, six inches apart. Filled with priceless insights from many of the best pitchers in baseball history--from Bob Gibson, Steve Carlton, and Nolan Ryan to Greg Maddux, Mariano Rivera, and Clayton Kershaw--K will be the definitive book on pitching and join such works as The Glory of Their Times and Moneyball as a classic of the genre.