Once there was a man who loved boxes. He also loved his young son, but because he did not know how to say so, he made things for his son out of boxes. Love is expressed in different ways and a small boy comes to understand his father's special way of showing his love for him.
"Each story is a minor masterpiece of the writer's craft." "Midwest Book Review" In these twelve stories, you'll meet a remarkable cast of complex, quirky characters tangled up in the limits they've put on their lives. Driven by love or loneliness, like the man in the title, they've boxed themselves in. Frank Tavares tells their stories with humor and compassion. And while the themes may be familiar - crumbling marriages, feuding neighbors, sparring business partners, and the endless searching for what might have been - here they become fresh, unpredictable, and surprising. This exciting debut collection from a first-rate storyteller will haunt and fascinate you long after you finish reading. "Too often, life stuns us with nuances and a mix of emotions that need time and patience to digest. Frank Tavares's greatest gift is in delivering all of these layers and textures in a single pass and doing so with a beautiful taste of humor to make it all palatable. The stories contained in The Man Who Built Boxes run the whole gamut from painful to absurd to pure joy and comedy. . . . This is a writer you'll want to know, writing a life you'll be happy you've lived in for a while." Jack B. Bedell, author of Bone-Hollow, True: New & Selected Poems and director of Louisiana Literature Press. "Each story is a minor masterpiece of the writer's craft. The totality of this outstanding collection, while thoroughly entertaining from beginning to end, is also thoughtful and thought-provoking and while works of fiction, resonate with real life experiences of us all. "The Man Who Built Boxes And Other Stories" is highly recommended for personal reading lists and community library collections." "Midwest Book Review"
Celebrating the inventor of the Crayola crayon This gloriously illustrated picture book biography tells the inspiring story of Edwin Binney, the inventor of one of the world's most beloved toys. A perfect fit among favorites like The Day the Crayons Quit and Balloons Over Broadway. purple mountains' majesty, mauvelous, jungle green, razzmatazz... What child doesn't love to hold a crayon in their hands? But children didn't always have such magical boxes of crayons. Before Edwin Binney set out to change things, children couldn't really even draw in color. Here's the true story of an inventor who so loved nature's vibrant colors that he found a way to bring the outside world to children - in a bright green box for only a nickel With experimentation, and a special knack for listening, Edwin Binney and his dynamic team at Crayola created one of the world's most enduring, best-loved childhood toys - empowering children to dream in COLOR
Former United States poet laureate Donald Hall reflects on his life, discussing his childhood in Connecticut, the works that influenced him, his education, his success and failures as a writer and father, his friendships, and other related topics.
When BIC, manufacturer of disposable ballpoint pens, wanted to grow, it looked for an idea beyond introducing new sizes and ink colors. Someone suggested lighters. LIGHTERS? With an idea that seemed crazy at first, that bright executive, instead of seeing BIC as a pen company—a business in the PEN “box”—figured out that there was growth to be found in the DISPOSABLE “box.” And he was right. Now there are disposable BIC lighters, razors, even phones. The company opened its door to a host of opportunities. IT INVENTED A NEW BOX. Your business can, too. And simply thinking “out of the box” is not the answer. True ingenuity needs structure, hard analysis, and bold brainstorming. It needs to start THINKING IN NEW BOXES —a revolutionary process for sustainable creativity from two strategic innovation experts from The Boston Consulting Group (BCG). To make sense of the world, we all rely on assumptions, on models—on what Luc de Brabandere and Alan Iny call “boxes.” If we are unaware of our boxes, they can blind us to risks and opportunities. This innovative book challenges everything you thought you knew about business creativity by breaking creativity down into five steps: • Doubt everything. Challenge your current perspectives. • Probe the possible. Explore options around you. • Diverge. Generate many new and exciting ideas, even if they seem absurd. • Converge. Evaluate and select the ideas that will drive breakthrough results. • Reevaluate. Relentlessly. No idea is a good idea forever. And did we mention Reevaluate? Relentlessly. Creativity is paramount if you are to thrive in a time of accelerating change. Replete with practical and potent creativity tools, and featuring fascinating case studies from BIC to Ford to Trader Joe’s, Thinking in New Boxes will help you and your company overcome missed opportunities and stay ahead of the curve. This book isn’t a simpleminded checklist. This is Thinking in New Boxes. And it will be fun. (We promise.) Praise for Thinking in New Boxes “Excellent . . . While focusing on business creativity, the principles in this book apply anywhere change is needed and will be of interest to anyone seeking to reinvent herself.”—Blogcritics “Thinking in New Boxes is a five-step guide that leverages the authors’ deep understanding of human nature to enable readers to overcome their limitations and both imagine and create their own futures. This book is a must-read for people living and working in today’s competitive environment.”—Ray O. Johnson, Ph.D., chief technology officer, Lockheed Martin “Thinking In New Boxes discusses what I believe to be one of the fundamental shifts all companies/brands need to be thinking about: how to think creatively, in order to innovate and differentiate our brands. We need to thrive and lead in a world of accelerating change and this book challenges us to even greater creativity in our thinking. One of the best business books I’ve read in a long time.”—Jennifer Fox, CEO, Fairmont Hotels & Resorts “As impressive as teaching new tricks to old dogs, Thinking in New Boxes is both inspirational and practical—a comprehensive, step-by-step guide to sharpening one’s wits in order to harness creativity in the workplace.”—Peter Gelb, general manager, Metropolitan Opera
Jane Yolen poetically reminds young readers that a simple box can be a child's most imaginative plaything as artist Chris Sheban illustrates its myriad and magical uses. Reviews -Booklist, November 2021 “A Box! A box is a wonder indeed. The only such magic that you’ll ever need.” This book offers gentle suggestions for what to do with a cardboard box, from the practical to the fantastical and from solitary to social.”
Funny, outrageous, passionate, and unrelenting, Vogue's food writer, Jeffrey Steingarten, will stop at nothing, as he makes clear in these forty delectable pieces. Whether he is in search of a foolproof formula for sourdough bread (made from wild yeast, of course) or the most sublime French fries (the secret: cooking them in horse fat) or the perfect piecrust (Fannie Farmer--that is, Marion Cunningham--comes to the rescue), he will go to any length to find the answer. At the drop of an apron he hops a plane to Japan to taste Wagyu, the hand-massaged beef, or to Palermo to scale Mount Etna to uncover the origins of ice cream. The love of choucroute takes him to Alsace, the scent of truffles to the Piedmont, the sizzle of ribs on the grill to Memphis to judge a barbecue contest, and both the unassuming and the haute cuisines of Paris demand his frequent assessment. Inevitably these pleasurable pursuits take their toll. So we endure with him a week at a fat farm and commiserate over low-fat products and dreary diet cookbooks to bring down the scales. But salvation is at hand when the French Paradox (how can they eat so richly and live so long?) is unearthed, and a "miraculous" new fat substitute, Olestra, is unveiled, allowing a plump gourmand to have his fill of fat without getting fatter. Here is the man who ate everything and lived to tell about it. And we, his readers, are hereby invited to the feast in this delightful book.
Florence Littauer tells us how to recognize and relate to people who are hurt and need help, offering a workable formula for exercising the gift of encouragement.
What does Mrs. Spurgeon do when her house is full of books? She gets a new house, but she also gets a great idea]] In The Woman Who Loved to Give Books, find lions on a shelf, a bird in a cage, and an opal ring as you read the story of Susannah Spurgeon's service for the Lord. These simple stories, written with 1-3 year olds in mind, have beautiful, engaging illustrations that will have your children asking you to read them over and over!
Henry gets bored sometimes. I mean, we all do. One day, when his mother takes him to the grocery store (the most boring place on earth!), Henry decides to use his imagination. And what happens next is the most incredible adventure he's ever been on! Join Henry on this unexpected journey and you, too, might just be surprised by what you find! "It's okay to be bored sometimes. That's the perfect time to use your imagination." - Henry's Mom