Six young Army pilots and green officers, all between 20 and 21 years old, arrive in Vietnam where they each become men, highly skilled pilots, and proficient officers within a few months. None of them will be the same after their first combat tour in Vietnam. All of them will bear the scars of war for life, either physically or mentally or both. All will be strengthened spiritually and none will ever be the same. Some will soon be dead and most will be injured or wounded within the next 12 months. One will become an amputee and all will suffer from varying degrees of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) for the rest of their lives. All will become beloved brothers and all will honor their families, friends, and this great nation with their dedication, sacrifice, courage, and love of family, country, and God!

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Double Tap to Zoom.

Before a snowflake melts on your tongue, it makes an epic journey. This is the story of that journey, step by step, from a single snowflake’s creation in the clouds, through its fall to earth, to its brief and sparkling appearance on a child’s mitten. Told by Kenneth Libbrecht, a scientist who knows snowflakes better than almost anyone, the story features his brilliant photographs of real snowflakes, snowflakes forming (in the author’s lab), water evaporating, clouds developing, ice crystals, rain, dew, and frost–all the elements of the world and weather that add up, flake by flake, to the white landscape of winter. Aimed at readers from 6 to 12, this spectacular full-color e-book gets to the heart of one of nature’s most magical phenomena while making the wonder of the snowflake all the more real.

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When Ella Miriam made the terrifying decision to leave the Soviet Union for Israel on a search for freedom and to escape generations of haunting, painful memories, she never expected to suffer the devastating loss that would lead her, through a succession of unlikely occurrences, to America. Chasing Freedom is a compelling and intensely personal account of Ella’s journey from bondage to freedom, a story of love, struggles, wars, death, birth and triumphs through generations of her family. Ella’s quest for freedom continued as she, through a series of improbable and miraculous events, realized her goal of emigrating to the U.S.A., where she discovered that even in the greatest nation in the world, freedom can be elusive.

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Twelve-year-old Johnny “No Good” Emmerstaff is an only child in a semi-rural section of Sanford, Florida in the late 1940s—until town snitch Tommy J drops in with the news that Johnny is getting a brother, an orphan named Josh. At first, Johnny doesn’t know what to think of Josh. He’s short, quiet, and he’s butting into his life, sharing his bed, and eating his pancakes. But when Johnny’s friend, Cully, picks on Josh, Johnny sticks up for him – his new brother.

Soon after, Tommy J is found murdered, and the town forms a posse to track down the killer. The town’s main suspect is an elderly Negro nicknamed Old Man Badeau, who all the kids in town think is bewitched. But Josh knows more about Old Man Badeau than anyone else. And when Johnny squeals the secret, Josh runs off with the killer still on the loose. Johnny must now track Josh down before it’s too late. In the process, he discovers who he really is.

Recipient of the Florida Writers Association’s Royal Palm Literary Award, this heart-felt story brings to life a lost segment of American life when boys could be boys as they struggle to understand racial prejudice and how to see people for who they really are.

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Would you like to start your child on a journey of self-reliance and love of the outdoors?

A sustainable source of ideas to help your children learn the ins and outs of animal husbandry, Barnyard Kids encourages children to get outside, enjoy nature, and reap the benefits of their hard work.

This fun and creative book by Dina Rudick will guide your family through fun opportunities learning about keeping chickens, milking cows, and rearing sheeps.

It’s time to get your little farmhands dirty. Help them grow to be fruitful, self-sufficient, happy, and healthy!

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Stunning photos take children inside the chrysalis right through the process of emerging as a majestic monarch. Children learn by doing as they raise and release butterflies, chart the monarch’s migration across North America, and create their own wing symmetry. Over 40 butterfly activities in all. 75 color photos. 27 illustrations.

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From the author of Frindle, Ben and his friends have just three days left to save their school or it will be bulldozed before their very eyes. The conclusion to Andrew Clements’s dynamic Keepers of the School series!

The Keepers of the School—known to their friends as Ben, Jill, and Robert—have one last chance to save their school before it’s torn down to make room for a seaside amusement park. But their nemeses, Janitors Lyman and Wally, are just as determined to keep the kids out of the way and the demolition on schedule.

One way or the other, this battle is about to come to a head. When all is said and done, will the school still be standing? Or will everything the Keepers have fought for be destroyed?

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Written specifically to challenge readers with the powerful lives of Christians who have profoundly shaped history, these books answer today’s call for positive role models and for opportunities to see how God works through the lives of those who follow Him. These exciting true stories inspire readers as they witness the amazing lives of these heroes unfold.

Books 6-10 Gift Set includes:

Eric Liddell: Something Greater Than Gold
William Carey: Obliged to Go
George Muller: The Guardian of Bristol’s Orphans
Jim Elliot: One Great Purpose
Mary Slessor: Forward into Calabar

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PJ is really looking forward to his birthday. His grandfather has promised to take him to opening day at the ballgame. So when his swim coach organizes a mandatory practice on the same day, PJ decides he’d rather quit the team.

At the same time, his new video game keeps turning on randomly and scrolling “One if by land, two if by sea,” across the screen—and it’s a game about robots, not the American Revolution.

Things get really weird when a freak storm transports PJ and his sister Sammy back in time to 1775 Boston. There they meet Copper, a colonial kid helping Paul Revere gather information on British troop movements. Copper’s convinced the strangely dressed time travelers are British spies. And just when it seems things can’t get any stranger, they encounter Pog, a kid alien desperate to save his abducted parents.

Now PJ and Sammy have to help their new friends while they evade Pog’s enemies and the Redcoats. If they’re going to succeed—and find their way home—PJ, Sammy, Pog, and Copper need to work as a team, even if PJ’s given up on teamwork.

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An unlikely cast of characters will take you on an adventure into the world and music of George Frideric Handel. Rock a Note Farm, on Harmony Lane, will never be the same now that Randy the Raccoon is there to stay. His stories about the magical woods that surround the farm piqued the animals’ interest to explore. After Farmer Heather tucks everyone in each night the adventures start. Randy leads his new friends through the magical woods that border the farm, back in time to England, where George Frideric Handel lived. Randy didn’t realize how dangerous it would be for him to go back in time. Fireworks and a mistaken identity are all part of the suspense in the Randy the Raccoon and His Musical Friends book.

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U.S. women’s history for everyone! Explore the history you never learned in school. Experience the everyday struggles, delights, and courage of America’s women from the Revolutionary War to the present in a format that all readers can enjoy. Dabble in history at a glance, or immerse yourself in comprehensive study. Read it for pleasure, or use it in the classroom. Historian Sally Roesch Wagner says, This is the book I’ve been waiting for. Full of rich and well-researched detail, it is a breathtaking swoop of everything from popular culture to suffrage, distilling complex material down to easy to understand information, and full of engagingly good anecdotes. The feel and taste and smell of the time come alive and the attention to accuracy is exemplary. Most importantly, it is not the typical narrow-focused history of white women of means, but the multifaceted story of the diversity of histories that speaks to all women of the United States. A joy to read!

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The Sunshine State gets its own alphabet book! Florida, where “B is for Beaches, P is for Pirates, and V is for Vacationers,” comes to life with playful, vivid illustrations by Michael Monroe and a conch shell full of fun facts and poems by Florida author and educator Carol Crane. Do you know which city is the state capitol? Which fragrant blossom is the state flower? Learn all this and more with S is for Sunshine: A Florida Alphabet.

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The intriguing facts and faces, history and places of Wisconsin are revealed to readers young and old in B is for Badger: A Wisconsin Alphabet. From its leaders in fine arts and architecture (Georgia O’Keefe and Frank Lloyd Wright) to its pioneers in nature conservation (John Muir and Aldo Leopold), Wisconsin has been an influence on major movements in education, industry, and use of natural resources. Brought to life with lyric rhymes and expressive, original artwork, B is for Badger showcases for natives and visitors alike the splendors of Wisconsin.Born in Tower, Minnesota, Kathy-jo Wargin has spent a great deal of time in the upper Midwest. Previously, she teamed up with illustrator Gijsbert van Frankenhuyzen on the award-winning Legend series, including The Legend of the Lady’s Slipper (Upper Midwest Bookseller’s Favorite). B is for Badger is her fourth state alphabet book. She lives with her family in Petoskey, Michigan.Renee Graef is new to the Sleeping Bear Press family but is very well known as a children’s book illustrator for the American Girls collection with Pleasant Company. She has also illustrated for Boyd’s Bears and is the illustrator of HarperCollin’s My First Little House series. Renee attended the University of Wisconsin and the University of Madison; she lives in Milwaukee with her family.

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The award-winning author of Ben Franklin’s Almanac and Our Eleanor has created an enthralling joint biography of our greatest president, Abraham Lincoln, and his complex wife—a scrapbook history that uses photographs, letters, engravings, and even cartoons, along with a fascinating text, to form an enthralling museum on the page. The Lincolns received four starred reviews and won the Boston Globe–Horn Book Award for Non-Fiction, making this the perfect addition to any collection.

Here are the extraordinary lives of Abraham and Mary, from their disparate childhoods and tumultuous courtship, through the agony of the Civil War, to the loss of three of their children, and finally their own tragic deaths. Readers can find Mary’s recipe for Abraham’s favorite cake—and bake it themselves; hear what Abraham looked like as a toddler; see a photo of the Lincolns’ dog; discover that the Lincoln children kept goats at the White House; see the Emancipation Proclamation written in Lincoln’ s own hand. Perfect for reluctant readers as well as history lovers, The Lincolns provides a living breathing portrait of a man, a woman, and a country.

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· The U.S. theatrical release of Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea is expected in April 2009. ·         Ponyo had over $100 million at the box office in Japan. With the population difference, this is equivalent to Batman The Dark Knight’s $400-$500 million at the box office in the U.S.

· The character of Ponyo – a goldfish who becomes a young girl – is very, very cute.

· Ponyo storyline is more familiar to Western audiences than previous Miyazaki films

· Ecological themes make the book very timely, especially for children.

· Ponyo will likely be more popular than prior Miyazaki films at the US box office; we can also expect DVD sales of more than 500,000 (Spirited Away did 400,000 after release).

· Ponyo film extremely likely to be nominated for Academy award for animated feature. (Backlist selling opportunity).

Relive the story of Ponyo and Sosuke in this full-color movie art book!
 

From the animators of Howl’s Moving Castle, Princess Mononoke and Academy Award winner Spirited Away, comes the new Studio Ghibli film Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea.

 

Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea, loosely based on Hans Christian Andersen’s The Little Mermaid, is a hand-drawn feature-length film. The art of the film involves not only cel, but also striking watercolor and pastel concept sketches and layout pages. Interviews with productiin principals about their daring choice to hand draw a film in the age of CGI and the screenplay complete the package.

 

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First published as a serialized children’s story in 1881–1882, Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island has become an enduring classic. It has all the elements of a great adventure story: a plot full of twists and turns, an escalating sense of treachery and impending disaster, and a quintessential villain. Teenager Jim Hawkins finds a map titled “Treasure Island” in the belongings of a stricken lodger at the Admiral Benbow Inn in 1750s England. He soon finds himself aboard the schooner Hispaniola with a crew of disguised pirates headed to the Caribbean on a quest to find buried treasure. Long John Silver, the peg-legged cook, is the leader of this wretched crew. He is both engaging and ruthless, feared by even his barbarous accomplices, and a shape-shifter, pretending to be Jim’s good friend and enemy, secretly plotting a mutiny. When mutiny begins, Jim must save the day. This beloved adventure story is pure fiction—but fiction well grounded in historical and geographical reality. In The Annotated Treasure Island, editor and researcher Simon Barker-Benfield meticulously and lovingly annotates this voyage, offering crucial factual information, a sociopolitical context, and clear technical explanations that bring you closer to the action. Lavishly illustrated with pictures of nautical equipment, parts of ships, and period maps, The Annotated Treasure Island brings the seafaring vernacular to life. You’ll learn about “blocks,” “backstays,” and “shrouds.” And you’ll see Jim and the crew handle the Hispaniola, whether it’s the “simple” chore of raising the anchor—which in a similar, real vessel could require three hours’-worth of hauling in a very slimy cable six inches at a time—or the difficulty and meaning of “warping” and “putting a man in the chains” in order to take depth soundings. The story illustrations by Louis Rhead (1857-1926) deftly draw out the escalating dramatic tension. Would all the risk and hardship have been worth it? Just how much treasure was the crew after? What could one have bought with 700,000 pounds sterling in the 1700s? Even that question is answered in this newly annotated edition: it would have been enough to buy and outfit a fleet of eleven 104-gun battleships of the period. Seven hundred thousand pounds sterling was serious money, enough money that some men would do almost anything to get it.

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Set in 1981 Guatemala, a lyrical debut novel tells the powerful tale of a boy who must decide what it means to be a man during a time of war.

Carlos knows that when the soldiers arrive with warnings about the Communist rebels, it is time to be a man and defend the village, keep everyone safe. But Mama tells him not yet — he’s still her quiet moonfaced boy. The soldiers laugh at the villagers, and before they move on, a neighbor is found dangling from a tree, a sign on his neck: Communist. Mama tells Carlos to run and hide, then try to find her. . . . Numb and alone, he must join a band of guerillas as they trek to the top of the mountain where Carlos’s abuela lives. Will he be in time, and brave enough, to warn them about the soldiers? What will he do then? A novel in verse inspired by actual events during Guatemala’s civil war, Caminar is the moving story of a boy who loses nearly everything before discovering who he really is.

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Riveting historical fiction from a debut novelist about the friendship that grows between two young indentured servants, one of them Irish, as they struggle to survive their harsh master in nineteenth century New England. It is 1839, Nine-year-old Ethan does not want to work for Mr. Lyman, the wealthy shopkeeper in their small Massachusetts’ town. But Ethan has no choice–it is the only way to pay off his family’s debt to the man. Ethan tries to befriend the Lymans’ other indentured servant, but Daniel, as everyone says, is a difficult boy. Sixteen years old, Irish, and moody, Daniel brushes off Ethan as if he were a pesky gnat. Ethan resolves to ignore the brusque older boy, but is then shocked to see how cruelly Mr. Lyman’s blows, and the two boys have only each other. Will Ethan be able to save his friend? And will others finally have the courage to do what is right for this not-so-difficult boy?

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Thirteen-year-old Shida, whose name means “problem” in Swahili, certainly has a lot of problems in her life — her father is dead, her depressed mother is rumored to be a witch, her family bears the weight of a curse, and everyone in her rural Tanzanian village expects her to marry rather than pursue her dream of becoming a healer.

So when the elders of Litongo make a controversial decision to move Shida’s people to a nearby village, Shida welcomes the change. Surely the opportunity to go to school and learn from a nurse can only mean good things. Nonetheless, mysterious calamities plague Shida’s people after their move. Desperate to stay, Shida must prove to her people that life can be better in their new home.

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We’re looking at one question: In 5,000 years, how did artists progress from creating works such as the Egyptian Hatshepsut to works such as Frishmuth’s The Vine (the two works on the cover of this ebook)? To find out, we focus on innovations that gave the artists who created them—and all artists who followed—greater power to make viewers stop, look, and think about sculptures.
This jargon-free essay will give you a framework for looking at any period of Western sculpture, so that you won’t be overwhelmed when you walk in the door of a museum. It’ll also help you find more subjects, styles, and periods that intrigue you and appeal to you—that show the world the way you think it can and ought to be. And what’s the point of looking at art, if not for moments like that?

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Before 1918, the Boston Red Sox were unstoppable. They won World Series after World Series, thanks in part to their charismatic pitcher-slugger Babe Ruth. But some people on the Red Sox felt the Babe was more trouble than he was worth, and he was traded away to one of the worst teams in baseball, the New York Yankees. From then on, the Yankees became a golden team. And the Red Sox? For over 80 years, they just couldn’t win another World Series. Then, in 2004, along came a scruffy, scrappy Red Sox team. Could they break Babe Ruth’s curse and win it all?

From the Trade Paperback edition.

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Before Texas was Texas, it was a lot of things to a lot of different people. Comanche, Choctaw, French, Spanish, Mexican and more laid claim to Texas soil as their own, and no one wanted to share. The fights and alliances that arose out of the colonization of Texas shaped the state’s future. Find out all about the beginning of the state and the colonists who helped pave the way for the Texas we now know. Saddle up with Betsy and George Christian for an interactive, fun chapter in Texas history for kids that challenges them to ask questions about the history they’re told and the world in which they live.

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In 1904 the city of Baltimore was almost destroyed by fire. Hundreds of firemen, policemen, soldiers, and citizens battled the blaze for three days. The disaster brings out the best in man and the bravest of deeds, but one hero stands head and shoulders above all…literally. Goliath is a fire horse assigned to Engine Company 15. He is massive in size and mighty in heart and steadfastness. To the men of Engine Company 15, Goliath is the ultimate fire horse. He is the lead horse for the team assigned to pulling the mammoth Hale Water Tower No. 1. When the fire alarm sounds, calling them to action, Goliath leads his team into the blaze. Soon his lifesaving actions will lead him into the pages of history. Masterful artwork from acclaimed illustrator Troy Howell brings this true story to pulse-pounding life. Educator Claudia Friddell says of her work researching Goliath, “It was a privilege to meet and interview firefighters and fire historians about the Baltimore Fire of 1904.” Goliath is her first children’s book. Claudia lives in Baltimore, Maryland. Artist Troy Howell has had a prolific career as a children’s book illustrator with countless books to his credit, including The Secret Garden, The Ugly Duckling, and Favorite Greek Myths. He received his formal art education from the Art Center in Los Angeles and the Illustrators’ Workshops in New York. Troy lives in Falmouth, Virginia.

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Forged in heaven, it is called Kusanagi, the Grasscutter–the lost sword of the Gods. This legendary blade could potentially tip the scales of power for the shadowy Conspiracy of Eight in their quest to overthrow the Shogunate and reinstate the Emperor. With the help of a witch and the souls of dead warriors, they plan to recover the lost sword and bring the Shogun down. But when the fates place the Grasscutter in the hands of masterless samurai Usagi Yojimbo, the ronin rabbit becomes the focus of a deadly struggle for possession of the dread blade. And this crisis pales beside the dark possibilities should the sword come to the demonic warrior, Jei! Grasscutter collects Dark Horse Usagi Yojimbo issues 13-22, Stan Sakai’s longest and most ambitious Usagi tale to date: a sweeping epic showcasing one of comics’ most individual artistic voices at the peak of his creative skills.

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“I always imagine Russian history,” suggests American writer and veteran expatriate, Jennifer Eremeeva, “on a huge, 3D IMAX screen, surround sound booming with a jumbo bucket of popcorn in your lap and huge blue drink at your side.”  Eremeeva should know: as a former tour guide and Ivy League-educated historian, Eremeeva is adept at making Russia’s complex history both entertaining and digestible for non-academics.  She strolls expertly but lightly through her material, tracing the winning formula for Russia’s effective rulers back to the Tatar Mongols: revealing why Ivan may not have been so Terrible; explaining why Catherine so totally awesome; and asserting that neither Peter the Great nor Stalin would ever tweet anything.

Eremeeva encourages us to peek inside Empress Elizabeth’s baroque boudoir; she deconstructs Gorbachev’s curiously-split personality, and shows us exactly where the bodies are buried. Eremeeva’s unique fusion of humor and history, and inimitable writing style brings the riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma that is Russia into hilarious focus in this compact and highly readable guide to thirteen centuries of her history.

Fans of Eremeeva’s blogs, columns, and her full-length book, Lenin Lives Next Door: Marriage, Martinis, and Mayhem in Moscow are sure to enjoy this further exploration of Russia’s soft and hilarious underbelly.  For readers embarking on a visit to Russia or an exploration of the country’s rich literature and culture, Have Personality Disorder, Will Rule Russia offers a succinct, informative, and highly entertaining introduction to the country’s complex and expansive history.

To download Jennifer Eremeeva’s recommendations for further reading about medieval and imperial Russia, the Romanovs, and current events in the Russian Federation, visit www.jennifereremeeva.com/russianreadinglist.

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