Twelve-year-old movie-loving Maisie is in need of a distraction from her current romantic dilemma when her Uncle Walt comes to stay with her family after being hurt on the set of the movie he's filming in Hollywood. Maisie's best friend, Cyrus, has been hanging out a lot with Gary Hackett, whose last-name sounds to Maisie like a cat barfing up a hairball. When it seems as if Hackett might like Maisie romantically, she's none too pleased, and Cyrus is even less impressed. Uncle Walt has a way of pointing Maisie in the right direction, and Maisie's love of movies also keeps her centered. Heading to the local independent theater on Saturdays to see old movies helps Maisie stay grounded as she struggles with growing up, family tensions, a grandma who seems to be losing her memory, and a love triangle she never expected.
Tackling divorce and suicide with a warmth and sensitive humor that refuses to be weighed down, Someone Else's Shoes chronicles a road trip that unites three young people in search of family and acceptance. Fans of Sharon Draper, Jo Knowles and Counting by Sevens will be moved by this tale of what brings us together when things fall apart. Twelve-year-old Izzy, a budding stand-up comic, is already miserable about her father's new marriage and the new baby on the way. Then ten-year-old cousin Oliver and his father, Uncle Henderson, move in with Izzy and her mom because Oliver's mother committed suicide only a few months ago. And to make matters worse, Ben, the rebellious 16-year-old son of Izzy's mother's boyfriend, winds up staying with them, too. But when Uncle Henderson--who has been struggling with depression after his wife's suicide--disappears, Ben, Izzy, and Oliver set aside their differences and hatch a plan to find him. As the threesome travels in search of Henderson, they find a surrogate family in each other.
A pet detective on the hunt for a prominent pooch is found dead, and inn owner Holly Miller has to sort through her guest list for suspects in this all new Paws & Claws mystery in the New York Times bestselling series. The ladies of the Wagtail Animal Guardians, WAG for short, are in town for a pet adoption charity ball, and Holly is making sure to roll out the red carpet for her special guests. She and her furry best friend Trixie are busy keeping the WAG ladies happy and preparing for the ball when they learn that a retired judge has lost his prized pup. The venerable citizen has hired a pet detective who has some personal ties to Holly’s new guests. His presence ruffles some feathers, and when the PI is found DOA not long before the ball, Holly wonders if one of the WAG ladies had a motive for murder. To make matters worse, some pet-loving guests of the ball nearly suffer the same deadly fate. Holly and Trixie will have to sniff out the clues and leash a callous killer before they strike again....
You''ll love this action-packed, lavishly illustrated look back at the Golden Age of Professional Wrestling-the greatest stars of the mighty Mid-Atlantic, the WCW and WWE. John Hitchcock shares his vivid memories attending live matches and television broadcasts from Greensboro during the 1960s on through the 1990s. You''ll read about wrestlers on their way up and on the way down: Ric Flair, Dusty Rhodes, Arn Anderson, Johnny Valentine, Wahoo McDaniel, Rip Hawk, Terry Funk, Ernie Ladd, Johnny Weaver, the Four Horsemen, Klondike Bill, even the Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling! "They were a staple during grappling''s heyday in Greensboro, N.C., and routinely appeared in front of thousands of jeering fans at arenas throughout the Jim Crockett-run territory. Unlike their "Four Horsemen" contemporaries, though, this roguish group was comprised of vocal ringside fans who occupied a prominent spot at the Greensboro Coliseum during the 1980s and early ''90s. Long before the days of "smart fans" and "cool heels," there was "Front Row Section D." "Hitchcock relishes all the memories of attending live matches and television broadcasts during the 1960s on through the ''90s, and there are plenty of photos and clippings to go along with the stories. Long-forgotten stars live on the pages of this book, and there are laughs galore on every one of them as readers relive some of the Mid-Atlantic glory days through Hitchcock and his eclectic cast of characters. "Like those long-revered shows of the past, this book is well worth the price of admission." -Mike Moneyham, Charleston Post & Courier "Front Row Section D is a collection of stories Hitch has been honing for many years, stories that he lived while running his mouth from the front row at (mostly) Jim Crockett Promotion wrestling shows at the Greensboro Coliseum. Hitch is a world class heckler, and, as he straightforwardly explains, used his Fine Arts degree to help him design signs to take to the shows. "Hitch, never shy about talking himself up, oddly never writes that he''s responsible for the sea of doofuses carrying signs to every TV wrestling show, looking to get on the air. In the ''80s Crockett Promotions taped a lot of their TV in our area, and Hitch and his friends (like, you know, me) were the shows because we were right up front with those signs. It got to where I would rush home from work on Saturdays to check my VCR to see if we got on the air for yet another week. "There''s also the single most caustic, least respectful chapter in any wrestling book on the biggest wrestling star of the day, Hulk Hogan, and how he left the Greensboro Coliseum with his tail between his legs and and a plastic fist on his head, not to be seen for years and years. "Hitch isn''t just some asshole aggravating the crap out of people working for a little ving just like everybody else. The best serious chapter of the book is his appreciation of the great U.S. Champion Johnny Valentine. There are personal profiles of Rip Hawk, a gross story about the lengths Brute Bernard would go to protect kayfabe, and an account of the famed U.S. Title Tournament. Hitch also tells the story of how the Front Row was instrumental in the organic origin of Ric Flair, Tully Blanchard, Ole Anderson, and Arn Anderson becoming the Four Horsemen, a story Horsemen manager J. J. Dillon has verified on the PWTorch Livecast." - Bruce Mitchell, Pro Wrestling Torch "Hitchcock is a born storyteller. You can easily imagine him weaving these yarns to customers at his store or to friends at Denny''s after the matches, and this book is the better for it. It''s not really a history of the so-called "sport" in Greensboro, though reading about some of the stars and feuds of the past will bring back memories for longtime fans. It''s more a memoir, bringing you into this group of friends who got a peek into wrestling''s inner circle and had a good time doing it." Jay Reddick, GSO News & Record
On the anniversary of his sister's murder, Leo, tormented by his mother's insane accusations and his own waking nightmares, kidnaps a wealthy girl intending to kill her, but instead their long night together helps them both face their futures.
The rates of bullying, truancy due to lack of safety in schools, and subsequent suicidality for LGBT+ youth are exponentially higher than for non-LGBT+ youth. As a result, many American K-12 students are suffering needlessly and many school leaders are unsure of what to do. This book solves that problem. Setting out best practices and professional guidance for creating LGBT+ inclusive learning in schools, this approachable and easy to follow book guides teachers, educators, administrators, and school staff toward appropriate and proven ways to create safer learning environments, update school policies, enhance curricula, and better support LGBT+ youth as they learn. Featuring real-life situations and scenarios, a glossary, and further resources, this book enables professionals in a variety of school roles to integrate foundational concepts into their everyday interactions with students, families, and staff to create an overall school culture that nurtures a welcoming, inclusive, and affirming environment for all. This book can be utilized by independent readers, department teams, and entire school district reading experiences. This book also includes brand new, never before seen postcards from PostSecret as its foreword and its afterword is written by James Lecesne, co-founder of The Trevor Project. Also inside is the very first (and likely only ever) interview by the leaders of "Parents of Transgender Children," the world's largest support group of its kind. **An audiobook version will become available in Spring 2020!
In this cogent and well-researched book, Harold Schechter argues that, unlike the popular conception of the media inciting violence through displaying it, without these outlets of violence in the media a basic human need would not be met and would have to be acted out in much more destructive ways. Schechter demonstrates how violent images saturated the earliest newspaper, how art and disturbing images are not incompatible and how the demoaisation of comic books in the 1950s det up a pattern of equating testosterone fuelled entertainment with aggression.
You never know what, or who, will touch your heart. Now that Bess Cunningham is in middle school, she's determined to get noticed. With her new glasses, her wild thrift-store clothes, and her job as stage manager for the school play, she's sure her days of being invisible are over. Being forced to volunteer with her parents at the local soup kitchen doesn't exactly fit into Bess's popularity plans, especially since she finds the place so creepy. But when she meets Gracie Jarvis Battle, an elderly homeless woman, Bess can't help but feel compassion for her. Bess grows more involved with trying to feed and shelter the older woman, but as the weather turns colder and Gracie grows thinner, Bess begins to wonder--will her help be enough?
A New York Times bestseller, this is the “outstanding” (The Atlantic), insightful, and authoritative account of Dwight Eisenhower’s presidency. Drawing on newly declassified documents and thousands of pages of unpublished material, The Age of Eisenhower tells the story of a masterful president guiding the nation through the great crises of the 1950s, from McCarthyism and the Korean War through civil rights turmoil and Cold War conflicts. This is a portrait of a skilled leader who, despite his conservative inclinations, found a middle path through the bitter partisanship of his era. At home, Eisenhower affirmed the central elements of the New Deal, such as Social Security; fought the demagoguery of Senator Joseph McCarthy; and advanced the agenda of civil rights for African-Americans. Abroad, he ended the Korean War and avoided a new quagmire in Vietnam. Yet he also charted a significant expansion of America’s missile technology and deployed a vast array of covert operations around the world to confront the challenge of communism. As he left office, he cautioned Americans to remain alert to the dangers of a powerful military-industrial complex that could threaten their liberties. Today, presidential historians rank Eisenhower fifth on the list of great presidents, and William Hitchcock’s “rich narrative” (The Wall Street Journal) shows us why Ike’s stock has risen so high. He was a gifted leader, a decent man of humble origins who used his powers to advance the welfare of all Americans. Now more than ever, with this “complete and persuasive assessment” (Booklist, starred review), Americans have much to learn from Dwight Eisenhower.
After a decade of successful films that included Rear Window, Vertigo, North by Northwest, and Psycho, Alfred Hitchcock produced Marnie, an apparent artistic failure and an unquestionable commercial disappointment. Over the decades, however, the film’s reputation has undergone a reevaluation, and both critics and fans alike have come to appreciate Marnie’s many qualities. In Hitchcock and the Making of Marnie, Tony Lee Moral investigates the cultural and political factors governing the 1964 film’s production, the causes of its critical and commercial failure, and Marnie’s relevance for today’s artists and filmmakers. Hitchcock’s style, motivation, and fears regarding the film are well-documented in this examination of one of his most undervalued efforts. Moral uses extensive research, including personal interviews with Tippi Hedren and Psycho screenwriter Joseph Stefano—as well as unpublished excerpts from interviews with Hitchcock himself—to delve into the issues surrounding the film’s production and release. This revised edition features four new chapters that provide even more fascinating insights into the film’s production and Hitchcock’s working methods. Biographies of Winston Graham—the author of the novel on which the film is based—and screenwriter Jay Presson Allen provide clues into how they brought a feminist viewpoint to Marnie. Additional material addresses Hitchcock’s unrealized project Mary Rose and his efforts to bring it to the screen, the director’s visual style and subjective approach to Marnie, and an exploration of the “real” Alfred Hitchcock. The book also addresses criticisms of the director following the HBO television movie The Girl, which depicted the filming of Marnie. With newly obtained access to the Hitchcock Collection Production Archives at the Margaret Herrick Library, the files of Jay and Lewis Allen, and the memoirs of Winston Graham—as well as interviews in 2012 with the Hitchcock crew—this new edition of Hitchcock and the Making of Marnie provides an invaluable look behind the scenes of a film that has finally been recognized for its influence and vision. It contains more than thirty photos, including a storyboard sequence for the film.
