A house has a face, hills change their shapes, a rainbow reverses its colors, and a balloon takes a boy to the moon. The day is full of surprises! "Bye, Ben," says his sister as Ben's red balloon takes him up, up, up . . . past bees in a tree, a kite on the big hill, and a rainbow in the clouds. When Ben finally reaches the moon, he puts moon rocks in his pockets and comes down again. Now the rainbow, the hill, the kite, the tree, and the bees all wear happy faces. And it's his sister's turn! Colorful cut-paper-and-ink artwork holds humorous surprises for the observant reader. All objects have life and are subject to change, underscoring Ben's sense of joy and wonder. An I Like to Read(R) book. Guided Reading Level D.
Andi and her mum have just moved from Texas to Aldcliffe. To make the situation worse, her beloved Jack Russell, Buddy, had gone missing! How will he find his way home in a new town? Andi will do anything to find him, and soon the whole town is covered in LOST posters. Her new friend Tristan is also determined to help as he lost his cat Lucy months before. Things start to look up when someone phones to say they've found him, but there's plenty more surprises in store for Andi and the Pet Finders!
A Seattle Stories novel A year after the sudden death of his longtime partner, Ben, Theo Anderson is still grieving. The last thing he's looking for is a new lover. But as Theo soon discovers, sometimes life has other plans. While Theo experiences a powerful physical attraction to fellow gym member Peter, it's his new online friend, Morgan, who provides the intellectual challenge to make him come alive. Morgan is witty, brave, and irreverent, and Theo is ready to take the plunge⦠until he discovers Morgan might be half his age. Theo's late partner was significantly olderâenough to strain Theo's relationship with his familyâand the potential of another relationship being cut short leaves him gunshy. Theo needs to lay Ben's memory to rest, reconcile with his family, and rekindle neglected friendships if he's to start afresh with a new lover. But Theo isn't the only one with a past. His biggest challenge, in living after Ben, might not be his to face.
What is The Bigs? In baseball, "the bigs" is slang for the big leagues. When you become responsible for yourself, and you are being paid to do a job, you are in the big leagues. The real world is tough, competitive, and much is expected. This is a quintessentially American story of one man's journey through his career and life. Wall Street veteran Ben Carpenter chronicles the people he met, the experiences he had, the mistakes he made, and what he learned along the way. Readers will encounter a colorful cast of real-life characters which include Big Hank, Hoops, Sweater Girl, The Zombies, Mr. Nuts, The Cheese, Deep Throat, and The RAT. Their tales illuminate Carpenter's progress from newly minted liberal arts graduate, to the owner of an out-of-control bar in Manhattan, to the CEO of a major international investment company. While the real world can be very fun, it's also very much a battle, and that battle is not easy for anyone. The Bigs is an eye-opening book with specific, comprehensive, and practical advice you won't hear anywhere else. This is a book that parents will want to read and give to their children—and their children will want to read and share with their friends.
“Ben shows that the black keys of wistfulness and sorrow can make music every bit as beautiful as the white keys. These pages will train your ears to hear heaven’s music once again.” —Jeremy Camp, Gold-charting singer and subject of the movie I Still Believe “With depth and clarity, Ben draws on his personal experience to offer you the practical tools and the courage you need to retaliate against the weight of darkness and walk forward in freedom.” —Levi Lusko, pastor and bestselling author Ben Courson’s mission is to inject hope into a generation plagued by anxiety and despair. In this follow up to Optimisfits, he shares his own battles with depression, PTSD, and personal tragedy—and how that turmoil came to fuel his unabashed optimism and unshakable confidence in God’s ability to heal. In Flirting with Darkness, Ben encourages you to not accept depression as a permanent state, but instead turn to the One who will champion your every struggle. He offers up the tools that helped him cling to God during his darkest moments, helping you discover how… prayer can transform your spirit and turn your pain into joy shifting your focus from your problems to God’s promises allows you to recognize your purpose finding a tribe in friends and family will help you move beyond loneliness counseling and medication can be important parts of God’s plan for your deliverance from mental illness If you feel weighed down by despair, the childlike wonder and biblical insights in Flirting with Darkness will help you glimpse beyond your current pain to see the light in your own story.
‘It’s amazing how some people can light up a room just by stepping into it. Ben was twenty-one months old and full of smiles. He spread happiness simply by being there.’ In 1991 Kerry and her son Ben followed Kerry’s parents to live on the Greek island of Kos. On 24 July, she was at work when her mum Christine arrived crying uncontrollably. Ben had been playing outside, and then disappeared. Someone had taken Ben. In her heartbreaking memoir, Kerry describes the agony of being initially suspected by the police, which meant the closure of airport and ferry terminals were delayed, the early sightings that raised their hopes and the hoaxes which dashed them completely. And the unbearable pain of knowing her baby boy was alone somewhere without his mum. Back in the UK, the long years of waiting and hoping have been difficult on the whole family. Kerry has raised her daughter, Leighanna, while following up more than 300 leads. In 2011 they had a breakthrough when South Yorkshire Police agreed to work with the Greek authorities to reopen the case. The chance that Ben will read about himself and come home becomes more real every day. All of Kerry's royalties from the sale of this book will go toward the Help Find Ben campaign.
A photographic look into the world of vinyl record collectors—including Questlove—in the most intimate of environments—their record rooms. Compelling photographic essays from photographer Eilon Paz are paired with in-depth and insightful interviews to illustrate what motivates these collectors to keep digging for more records. The reader gets an up close and personal look at a variety of well-known vinyl champions, including Gilles Peterson and King Britt, as well as a glimpse into the collections of known and unknown DJs, producers, record dealers, and everyday enthusiasts. Driven by his love for vinyl records, Paz takes us on a five-year journey unearthing the very soul of the vinyl community.
The Comeback Kid will be the first biography of Robert Downey Jr. A Detailed and authoritative account of the life, career, stardom and controversy of Robert Downey JR – one of Hollywood’s most popular, and gifted, actors of recent times. A behind-the-scenes look on the making of his most famous and infamous movies, talking to the people closest to him, from actors and directors to those he has encountered during his trips to the dark side. “I’ve always felt like an outsider in this industry. Because I’m so insane I guess.” – Robert Downey Jr. Robert Downey Jr’s life isn’t a movie – but it could be. Now one of the biggest box office stars in the world thanks to Iron Man and Sherlock Holmes, he’s come a long way since his early days as a rising actor amidst the Brat Pack of the Eighties, as well as stints on Saturday Night Live and Ally McBeal. His incredible journey has also encompassed prison and drug addiction – experiences which left him just one bad choice away from death. Funny, definitive and entertaining, this is the first book that dares to glimpse inside the psyche of a brilliant and complex icon of our times.
Before Game Change there was What It Takes, a ride along the 1988 campaign trail and “possibly the best [book] ever written about an American election” (NPR). Written by Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist and New York Times–bestselling author Richard Ben Cramer, What It Takes is “a perfect-pitch rendering of the emotions, the intensity, the anguish, and the emptiness of what may have been the last normal two-party campaign in American history” (Time). An up-close, in-depth look at six candidates—George H. W. “Poppy” Bush, Bob Dole, Joe Biden, Michael Dukakis, Richard Gephardt, and Gary Hart—this account of the 1988 US presidential campaign explores a unique moment in history, with details on everything from Bush at the Astrodome to Hart’s Donna Rice scandal. Cramer also addresses the question we find ourselves pondering every four years: How do presumably ordinary people acquire that mixture of ambition, stamina, and pure shamelessness that allows them to throw their hat in the ring as a candidate for leadership of the free world? Exhaustively researched from thousands of hours of interviews, What It Takes creates powerful portraits of these Republican and Democratic contenders, and the consultants, donors, journalists, handlers, and hangers-on who surround them, as they meet, greet, and strategize their way through primary season chasing the nomination, resulting in “a hipped-up amalgam of Teddy White, Tom Wolfe, and Norman Mailer” (Los Angeles Times Book Review). With timeless insight that helps us understand the current state of the nation, this “ultimate insider’s book on presidential politics” explores what helps these people survive, what makes them prosper, what drives them, and ultimately, what drives our government—human beings, in all their flawed glory (San Francisco Chronicle).
