The Baby-Sitters Club #1: Kristy's Great Idea

• ISBN13: 9780545174756
• Condition: New
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The first of the new Collector's Club Editions features a new logo, bright new cover, and fill-in pages to personalize as Kristy comes up with the idea for the Baby-sitter's Club with friends Claudia, Stacey, and Mary Anne. It all began with a great idea ... and the inspiring original story of the Baby-sitters Club is back! Kristy Thomas's brilliant business plan gets off to a great start with the help of Claudia Kishi (vice-president), Mary Anne Spier (secretary), and Stacey McGill (treasurer).

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Amazon Exclusive Inteview with Author Ann M. Martin

Q: It's been a decade since the last Baby-sitters Club books came out, and 24 years since the first book was published. What was it like to come back to the BSC after so many years away?

Martin: I had a great time re-visiting the characters. It was fun to explore their lives in the prequel, “"The Summer Before," and to figure out what led the girls to form The Baby-sitters Club, something that would eventually change their lives. It was like a reunion with friends--friends who haven’t changed a bit.

Q: Kristy, Claudia, Mary Anne, and Stacey are very different characters, which is in part why the series was and is still so popular. Every reader can relate to at least one of the characters. So, we have to ask you--which character are you most like?

Martin: I am most like Mary Anne who is the shy and quiet one. Like me, Mary An! ne enjoys more solitary pursuits such as reading and needlewor! k. My fa vorite character, however, is Kristy. I think she's my alter ego.

Q: Were you allowed to baby-sit when you were twelve? If so, were they any funny or awful stories you'd like to share?

Martin: Yes, I did a lot of baby-sitting when I was twelve. One of the worst and also funniest things that ever happened was when I was baby-sitting for our neighbors and the kids wanted to wash their parents' car. They started the job with much enthusiasm--using Brillo pads.

Q: More than 200 BSC books were published in the eighties and nineties. Are there any that you are particularly fond of and why?

Martin: My favorite Baby-sitters Club book is "Kristy's Great Idea," which is the first book and sets the series in motion. I also like the more serious books such as "Claudia and the Sad Good-bye," which deals with the death of Claudia’s grandmother. This book was written sh! ortly after my own grandmother died. My other favorite BSC books include “Kristy and the Secret of Susan,” in which the members of the BSC baby-sit for a child with autism, and "Jessi's Secret Language" in which the girls learn American Sign Language in order to communicate with a sitting charge with profound hearing impairment.

Q: Why do you think that the series is so well-loved and has endured over so many years?

Martin: I think the characters in the BSC books are easily relatable. The books deal with timeless topics including friendship, family, and school. Also, the books tackle serious issues including racism, bullying, kids with disabilities (physical and mental), and death of a loved one. These issues were relevant to kids in the 1980s and 1990s, and are still relevant to kids today. In addition to being relatable, these are characters readers can aspire to. The kids run a business--in this case, a baby! -sitting business. They are entrepreneurial, independent, crea! tive, an d confident. And at the heart of the series is the friendship--the "glue" that binds these characters. Sure, they have fights, but they're loyal and they support one another. I think a lot of us--even adults--can relate to that.

Q: "The Summer Before" takes place during the summer before the girls enter the seventh grade--where suddenly there's a ton of pressure to fit in. The months leading up to it can be filled with anxiety, excitement, and anticipation. Do you remember how you spent the summer before seventh grade?

Martin: I was nervous that summer because in the fall I would be going to a new school â€" the junior high (this was in the time before middle schools). Even the words "junior high" seemed terribly grown-up. My friends and I would be attending school with eighth-graders, who were one step away from high school. I spent that summer reading, going to the community pool, taking a family trip to Cape May! , New Jersey, doing some baby-sitting, and also recovering from surgery. But the knowledge that I would soon be in junior high school colored every day and every activity and did lend the summer an air of both anxiety and anticipation.

Q: Despite the fun the girls have together in "The Summer Before," they're all dealing with pretty tough problemsâ€"moving away, an absentee father, a first crush. How did you choose the issues you wanted to focus on?

Martin:  One of my favorite things about writing a series was that the characters themselves generated plot ideas for later books. One of the themes that developed as the series progressed was that of Kristy's relationship with her father. It was an idea I enjoyed exploring, and when I had the opportunity to write the prequel I realized that this summer would be a charged time for Kristy, and that I could introduce the issues she had with her father here; then they could! unfold in the later books. The same applied to Stacey. Her re! asons fo r moving to Stoneybrook had been revealed in later books, but I realized that during this particular summer the reader could actually watch the events take place. The other issues â€" a first crush, wanting more independence yet still feeling like a kid--are themes that I felt would resonate with most "tween" readers.

Q: Even though the books have been out of print for ten years there are still some very devoted fans. Surely you must have received a ton of letters about the series over the years. Are there any that stick out in your mind?

Martin: The most memorable are stories of girls who have written to me and told me that I’ve made an impact on their lives, that The Baby-sitters Club books have turned them into readers. Some have also said that the BSC books made them aspire to become writers. I’ve also heard from a lot of the original fans who grew up to become teachers, librarians, editors, journalists, entre! preneurs, etc. To know that this series inspired a generation of readers and writers is very humbling.

Q: There’s been a lot of speculation in the blogosphere about where Claudia, Kristy, Mary Ann, and Stacey would be now, in 2010, had they grown up. Do you have any thoughts on what path each would have taken?

Martin:  I understand the fascination of the older BSC fans who would like to know what happened with the characters when they got older. It’s thrilling to realize that after all these years the fans remain passionate about the books and the characters in The Baby-sitters Club. I can see Kristy running a business--I can also see her being in politics. I think Mary Anne became a teacher. I imagine Stacey went into fashion--not as a designer, but maybe on the business side. And Claudia became an artist. I think fans can fill in for the rest of the characters!

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The Deep End of the Ocean

• Michelle Pfeiffer, Whoopi Goldberg, High School Reunion, Treat Williams, Jonathan Jackson, Cory Buck

A #1 New York Times bestseller, Mitchard's suspenseful and moving novel is now available in trade paperback

Few first novels receive the kind of attention and acclaim showered on this powerful story--a nationwide bestseller, a critical success, and the first title chosen for Oprah's Book Club. Both highly suspenseful and deeply moving, The Deep End of the Ocean imagines every mother's worst nightmare--the disappearance of a child--as it explores a family's struggle to endure, even against extraordinary odds. Filled with compassion, humor, and brilliant observations about the texture of real life, here is a story of rare power, one that will touch readers' hearts and make them celebrate the emotions that make us all one.

"Riveting . . . twists that will spin you arou! nd." --Newsweek

"A drama with the tension of a thriller that moves deeply into the emotional territory of family ties." --People

"Take a deep breath. . . . This riveting story won't let you come up for air." --US magazine Oprah Book Club® Selection, September 1996: The horror of losing a child is somehow made worse when the case goes unsolved for nearly a decade, reports Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel columnist Jacquelyn Mitchard in this searing first novel. In it, 3-year-old Ben Cappadora is kidnapped from a hotel lobby where his mother is checking into her 15th high school reunion. His disappearance tears the family apart and invokes separate experiences of anguish, denial, and self-blame. Marital problems and delinquency in Ben's older brother (in charge of him the day of his kidnapping) ensue. Mitchard depicts the family's friction and torment--along with many gritty realities of family life--with the candor of a j! ournalist and compassion of someone who has seemingly been th! ere. Int ernational publishing and movie rights sold fast on this one: It's a blockbuster.Few first novels receive the kind of attention and acclaim showered on this powerful storyâ€"a nationwide bestseller, a critical success, and the first title chosen for Oprah's Book Club. Both highly suspenseful and deeply moving, The Deep End of the Ocean imagines every mother's worst nightmareâ€"the disappearance of a childâ€"as it explores a family's struggle to endure, even against extraordinary odds. Filled with compassion, humor, and brilliant observations about the texture of real life, here is a story of rare power, one that will touch readers' hearts and make them celebrate the emotions that make us all one.Oprah Book Club® Selection, September 1996: The horror of losing a child is somehow made worse when the case goes unsolved for nearly a decade, reports Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel columnist Jacquelyn Mitchard in this searing first novel. In it, 3-year-old B! en Cappadora is kidnapped from a hotel lobby where his mother is checking into her 15th high school reunion. His disappearance tears the family apart and invokes separate experiences of anguish, denial, and self-blame. Marital problems and delinquency in Ben's older brother (in charge of him the day of his kidnapping) ensue. Mitchard depicts the family's friction and torment--along with many gritty realities of family life--with the candor of a journalist and compassion of someone who has seemingly been there. International publishing and movie rights sold fast on this one: It's a blockbuster.Few first novels receive the kind of attention and acclaim showered on this powerful storyâ€"a nationwide bestseller, a critical success, and the first title chosen for Oprah's Book Club. Both highly suspenseful and deeply moving, The Deep End of the Ocean imagines every mother's worst nightmareâ€"the disappearance of a childâ€"as it explores a family's struggle to en! dure, even against extraordinary odds. Filled with compassion,! humor, and brilliant observations about the texture of real life, here is a story of rare power, one that will touch readers' hearts and make them celebrate the emotions that make us all one.DEEP END OF THE OCEAN - DVD MovieBeth Cappadora (Michelle Pfeiffer) is at her high school reunion when her 3-year-old son disappears from his brother's care. The little boy never turns up, and the family has to deal with the devastating guilt and grief that goes along with it. Nine years later, the family has relocated to Chicago. By a sheer fluke, the kid turns up, living no more than two blocks away. The authorities swoop down and return the kid to his biological parents, but things are far from being that simple. The boy grew up around what he has called his father, while his new family are strangers to him; the older son, now a teenager, has brushes with the law and behavioral problems. His adjustment to his lost brother is complicated by normal teenage churlishness, and the dad (Treat Will! iams) seems to expect everything to fall into place as though the family had been intact all along. It's a tightrope routine for actors in a story like this, being careful not to chew the scenery while at the same time not being too flaccid or understated. For the most part, the members of the cast deal well with the emotional complexity of their roles. Though the story stretches credulity, weirder things do happen in the real world. The family's pain for the first half of the film is certainly credible, though the second half almost seems like a different movie. Whoopi Goldberg plays the detective assigned to the case; casting her is a bit of a stretch, but she makes it work. All in all, a decent three-hanky movie in the vein of Ordinary People. --Jerry Renshaw

Diary of a Tired Black Man

• Diary Of A Tired Black Man is a simple story about the complex relationships between Black Men and Black Women. It follows the life and relationships of a successful black man as he tries to find a happy place to rest his heart.He is constantly challenged by the anger he finds in the black women he gets involved with. From his wife, whom he divorces, to the other women he tries to date after her n

Charles, an attorney, and Helen, the devoted wife, seem to have everything: money, a beautiful mansion - the American Dream. But just as Helen prepares to celebrate their 18th wedding anniversary, her life takes a surprising turn.Charles, an attorney, and Helen, the devoted wife, seem to have everything: money, a beautiful mansion - the American Dream. But just as Helen prepares to celebrate their 18th wedding anniversary, her life takes a surprising turn.Before it was a movie, it was a theatrical p! henomenon! When Helen learns that her husband is leaving her for her best friend, the women in her family are ready with advice. Her devout mother preaches strength and forgiveness, while her parolee grandmother shows up with a gun! Acclaimed African-American playwright Tyler Perry dares to mix sacred and secular humor with riotous results. Experience his most famous morality tale, now a major motion picture, in its original stage format...complete with live musical numbers!Few movies are made with the personal fervor of Diary of a Mad Black Woman. When Helen (Kimberly Elise, Beloved) is literally thrown out of her house by her callous lawyer husband (Steve Harris), her sense of self unravels. She finds herself on the doorstep of her gun-toting grandmother Madea (cross-dressed Tyler Perry), who sets Helen on the road to dignity and forgiveness--with a few detours along the way. The plot of Diary of a Mad Black Woman unfolds in a dizzying melange of styl! es, from soap opera to campy comedy to chick-flick romance to ! gothic r evenge to inspirational tale of redemption. Perry, like Eddie Murphy in The Nutty Professor, plays multiple roles in a family, two of which are over-the-top scenery-chewers while the other is a sincere, generous family man with a drug-addicted wife. This everything-including-the-kitchen-sink approach reflects the play's origins; Perry adapted the screenplay from his enormously popular gospel play, a genre of melodrama featuring extreme emotional drama and whiplash inducing plot turns. Some viewers will clutch this movie to their breast as a cinematic feast; others will see it as so schizophrenic it borders on the surreal. But either way, Elise's charismatic performance will keep you engaged throughout. Also featuring Cicely Tyson (Sounder), Shemar Moore (The Brothers), and Judge Mablean Ephriam (Divorce Court). --Bret FetzerCharles, an attorney, and Helen, the devoted wife, seem to have everything: money, a beautiful mansion - the American ! Dream. But just as Helen prepares to celebrate their 18th wedding anniversary, her life takes a surprising turn.Tyler Perry's acclaimed stage production Madea's Family Reunion continues the adventures of southern matriarch Madea. She has just been court ordered to be in charge of Nikki a rebellious runaway; her nieces Lisa and Vanessa are suffering relationship trouble and through it all she has to organize her family reunion.As the reunion approaches secrets are revealed and tensions rise. Madea must use every tactic in her arsenal to not only keep the peace but also keep her family together.System Requirements:Running Time: 110 MinFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: COMEDY Rating: PG-13 UPC: 031398193289 Manufacturer No: 19328Tyler Perry, impresario of the gospel theater circuit, brings his gun-toting granny-drag persona Madea back to the big screen in Madea's Family Reunion, a sequel to the surprise hit Diary of a Mad Black Woman. In addition to being saddled wit! h an unruly foster teen (Keke Palmer, The Wool Cap), Ma! dea has two troubled nieces: Lisa (Rochelle Aytes, White Chicks), who's engaged to an abusive and controlling investment banker (Blair Underwood, Something New); and Vanessa (Lisa Arrindell Anderson, The Second Chance), who can't open herself to the affection of a bus driver/artist (Boris Kodjoe, The Gospel) because of childhood abuse. Wreaking havoc on both of their lives is their mother Victoria (Lynn Whitfield, Eve's Bayou, in delirious wicked witch mode). Like Madea's previous outing, Madea's Family Reunion may induce mental whiplash--the movie zips from a discussion of flatulence to a jazz-backed poetry reading to domestic violence (Underwood, perhaps eager to leave his bland good-guy image behind, is genuinely scary), or from an act of horrific revenge to a staggeringly gaudy wedding. Though schizophrenic and morally questionable (beating an adult women is clearly wrong, but whipping a child with a belt in the name of tough love is app! arently good), the movie is definitely unpredictable and never dull. Also featuring Cicely Tyson (Because of Winn-Dixie) and the poet Maya Angelou. --Bret FetzerCharles, an attorney, and Helen, the devoted wife, seem to have everything: money, a beautiful mansion - the American Dream. But just as Helen prepares to celebrate their 18th wedding anniversary, her life takes a surprising turn.A fascinating story about the complex relationships between Black Men and Black Women. The film follows the love life of a successful man as he attempts to examine the relentless debate over the battle-of-the-sexes.

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A stunning foray into the mind and actions of the acclaimed actor/writer/director who worked for more than five years to produce first a play, then a movie, now a bookâ€"his most personal work to date, a searing Holocaust drama starring David Arquette, Daniel Benzali, Steve Buscemi, David Chandler, Allen Corduner, Harvey Keitel, Natasha Lyonne, and Mira Sorvino. Tim Blake Nelson's powerful account of what inspired him, and how he prepared himself and others to make this haunting movie, reveals! how and why a writer/director chooses such a difficult subject and surmounts its challenges. First realized as a play, which earned numerous awards, the story is based on historical events, centering on Auschwitz's twelfth Sonderkommando squad, prisoners assigned work in the crematoria, and their struggle to organize the only armed revolt in October of 1944. Financed by Millennium Films, produced by Killer Films, and released by Lions Gate Films in the US, The Grey Zone debuted in the United States in October 2002, garnering major media attention.

This book is the definitive record of Nelson's journeyâ€"from his initial readings and research, to assembling a brave cast that could tackle the material, to reconstructing the crematoria 80 percent to scale on location outside of Sofia, Bulgaria, and to his work with the art director, costume and production designers, and others on his team.

To acquaint his cast and crew with the difficult material, Nelson su! mmarized his research and his cinematic vision in a compelling! , length y pre-production memo, which is reproduced in this book. Also included are his screenplay, his annotated reading list, movie stills, excerpts from an essay by Primo Levi, and the source chapter from the book Auschwitz: A Doctor's Eyewitness Account, by Dr. Miklos Nyiszli.

Decade of Fear is a darkly entertaining journey through the complicated, often bizarre world of national security since 9/11. On that night, Toronto Star journalist Michelle Shephard watched the remains of New York’s World Trade Center fall from the sky, wondering what much of the world was asking: Â"Why?” So began a ten-year search for answers that took her through the streets of Mogadishu and Karachi, into the mountains of Waziristan and behind the wire of Guantanamo Bay two dozen times.

Shephard conducted hundreds of interviews worldwide, and with sharp insight and an appreciation for the absurd, she weaves together stories of warlords, presidents, spies, grievi! ng widows and global terrorists, to describe the historic decade where often the West’s Â"solutions” for terrorism only served to exacerbate the problem. She cruises with former CIA bosses, runs alongside protestors in the streets of Sanaa to escape fire from Yemen’s security services during experience the Arab Spring, meets victims of terrorism who leave her devastated, and earns enough stamps on her Gitmo Starbucks card for a free latte. Gripping, heartbreaking and infuriating, Decade of Fear broadens our understanding of a decade that was all too often described through panicked rhetoric.

A seductive young woman chooses the dangerous path of confronting the justice system and corporate power for the sake of her children, her passion for life, and her desire to be loved.

Kelly Jensen was only six years old when she witnessed her mother's murder, for which her father was wrongfully convicted. Moved from foster home to foster home, Kelly was! exposed to abuse, neglect, and human trafficking. By age fift! een she was a runaway, combining her innate intelligence with street smarts to become a chameleon capable of losing herself in every character she impersonated. Beautiful and bewitching, Kelly used her talents to become the most notorious identity thief in the country.

Ruggedly handsome defense attorney Jake Brooks finds the enigmatic Kelly Jensen irresistible despite suspecting her of murdering his best friend from law school. His obsession leads him to risk his own illustrious career in Los Angeles to see that justice is served. Kelly finds him addictive. Together, the two uncover a sordid link among immoral foster care parents, high rollers in Vegas, politicians, and the legal system itself. Kelly ultimately takes fate into her own hands behind closed doors in the gray zone.This is the Final Production Draft, before generating the shooting script, for the hit Science Fiction Film, "Alien Grey: Zone-X" (imdb.com/title/tt1326190/).

Park Ranger Don Morgan is torn fro! m his routine life, when he stumbles upon a UFO visitation in the arid, deserted Park Area where he resides. An inexplicable, bizarre power outage knocks out all electronics and communications, stranding a carload of hikers in the park, and downing a small plane. Searching for hydration in the blistering heat, Don must lead the survivors across an apparently abandoned Military Testing area (similar to "Area 51") called "ZONE-X". Is it the sun, dehydration, or is something else (a covert government mind control test or possibly aliens) playing tricks on their minds, confusing them with harrowing mirages? In order to end the extra-terrestrial's experiment on humanity, Don must summon newly found paranormal abilities and battle his arch rival "The Madman" (also stranded in the park) not to mention gigantic marauding creature monstrosities (cyborg spiders, flying beasts, huge reptiles) "created" by the Alien Greys.This is the Final Production Draft, before generating the shooti! ng script, for the hit Science Fiction Film, "Alien Grey: Zone! -X" (imd b.com/title/tt1326190/).

Park Ranger Don Morgan is torn from his routine life, when he stumbles upon a UFO visitation in the arid, deserted Park Area where he resides. An inexplicable, bizarre power outage knocks out all electronics and communications, stranding a carload of hikers in the park, and downing a small plane. Searching for hydration in the blistering heat, Don must lead the survivors across an apparently abandoned Military Testing area (similar to "Area 51") called "ZONE-X". Is it the sun, dehydration, or is something else (a covert government mind control test or possibly aliens) playing tricks on their minds, confusing them with harrowing mirages? In order to end the extra-terrestrial's experiment on humanity, Don must summon newly found paranormal abilities and battle his arch rival "The Madman" (also stranded in the park) not to mention gigantic marauding creature monstrosities (cyborg spiders, flying beasts, huge reptiles) "created" by the Alien Grey! s.

Most discussions of health care center on medical advances, cost, and the roles of insurers and government agencies. With The Grey Zone of Health and Illness, Alan Blum offers a new perspective, outlining a highly nuanced theoretical approach to health and health care alike. Drawing on a range of thinkers, Blum explains how our current understanding of health care tends to posit it as a sort of state of permanent emergency, like the nuclear standoff of the Cold War. To move beyond that, he argues, will require a complete rethinking of health and sickness, self-governance and negligence. A heady, cutting-edge intervention in a critical area of society, The Grey Zone of Health and Illness will have wide ramifications in the academy and beyond.

A Dulcie Schwartz feline mystery - When a student goes missing and a professor ends up dead, Dulcie Schwartz realizes that midterms are going to be! worse than ever. She’s hard at work on her thesis, but pres! ent day concerns â€" including the destructive mischief of her growing kitten â€" keep dragging her back into a tangle of motive, misbehavior, and maybe even murder. If only Mr Grey, her beloved feline ghost, would lend a hand, at least with that rambunctious kitten . . .

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The Magic School Bus Inside A Hurricane

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When Riley Sinclair stepped into her new job as director of guest relations at a posh resort on Paradise Island, she felt the final pieces of her once-broken life coming together. But the waters become choppy when Riley discovers that some who come to the Atlantis Hotel are accompanied by paralyzing secrets and overwhelming fears. Riley and three guests are in desperate but unknowing need of each other, eventually forging unlikely yet powerful friendships. With a hurricane headed straight for the island, together they embark on a journey of laughter, heartache, and healing.National Bestseller

September 8, 1900, began innocently in the seaside town of Galveston, Texas. Even Isaac Cline, resident meteorologist for the U.S. Weather Bureau failed to grasp the true meaning of the strange! deep-sea swells and peculiar winds that greeted the city that morning. Mere hours later, Galveston found itself submerged in a monster hurricane that completely destroyed the town and killed over six thousand people in what remains the greatest natural disaster in American history--and Isaac Cline found himself the victim of a devestating personal tragedy.

Using Cline's own telegrams, letters, and reports, the testimony of scores of survivors, and our latest understanding of the science of hurricanes, Erik Larson builds a chronicle of one man's heroic struggle and fatal miscalculation in the face of a storm of unimaginable magnitude. Riveting, powerful, and unbearably suspenseful, Isaac's Storm is the story of what can happen when human arrogance meets the great uncontrollable force of nature.Reading in his signature dispassionate style, narrator Edward Herrmann brings an eerie calm to this powerful chronicle of the deadliest storm ever to hit the United St! ates--a huge and terribly destructive hurricane that struck l! and near Galveston, Texas in September of 1900. Author Erik Larson re-creates the events leading up to the disaster in astonishing detail, tracing the thoughts and actions of Isaac Cline, a scientist with America's burgeoning U.S. Weather Bureau. Cline's unwavering confidence--"In an age of scientific certainty one could not allow one's judgment to be clouded..."--blinds the meteorologist to the deadly onslaught about to be unleashed. Herrmann's calculated performance reflects the impending doom and dangers inherent to an unquestioned and absolute faith in science. (Running time: 5 hours, 3 cassettes) --George Laney

The horror of Hurricane Katrina is brought vividly to life in this fictional account of a boy, a dog, and the storm of the century.

Barry's family tries to evacuate before Hurricane Katrina hits their home in New Orleans. But when Barry's little sister gets terribly sick, they're forced to stay home and wait out the storm.

At first, Katrina doe! sn't seem to be as bad as predicted. But overnight the levees break, and Barry's world is literally torn apart. He's swept away by the floodwaters, away from his family. Can he survive the storm of the century -- alone?

Each book in the True Horse Stories focuses on a contemporary horse from a different part of the world, and each animal is, in his or her own way, a hero.

PBJ Decks Smokin Gun (Gunner) is an American Paint Horse, one of the many of Heather Lott Goodwin's herd, and a valuable show animal that won the World Championship Paint Horse title. When Hurricane Katrina passed over the Goodwin property, it took with it the fences, the cattle, and several horses. Heather and her family lived in their horse trailer for six weeks and considered themselves lucky to have safe, comfortable shelter. After the storm, they searched for the animals and recovered many of them. But three months passed before they located Gunner, a hundred miles away. They were told ! he was in terrible shape and should be put down. Nevertheless,! Heather drove on washed-out roads to bring him home, starving, dehydrated, and blind in one eye. With the help of a vet and her mother, she nursed him back to health. Amazingly, nine months later, he was well enough to compete again in the World Championship Paint Horse Show. Gunner's story is a testament to love and to determination.

Rubin "Hurricane" Carter was riding a wave of success. The survivor of a difficult youth, he rose to become a top contender for the middleweight boxing crown. But his career crashed to a halt on May 26, 1967, when he and another man were found guilty of the murder of three white people and sentenced to three consecutive life terms.

            Written from prison and first published in 1974, The Sixteenth Round chronicles Hurricane's journey from the ring to solitary confinement. The book was his cry for help to the public, an attempt to set the record straight and force a new trial. Bob Dylan ! wrote his classic anthem "Hurricane" about his struggle, and Muhammad Ali and thousands of others took up his cause. The power of Carter's voice, as well as his ironic humor, makes this an eloquent, soul-stirring account of a remarkable life.

To celebrate its 20th anniversary, Scholastic is re-releasing the ten original Magic School Bus titles in paperback. With updated scientific information, the bestselling science series ever is back!

Count on Ms. Frizzle to teach anything but an ordinary lesson on meteorology. Flying through the clouds in the Magic School Bus, Ms. Frizzle's class experiences a hurricane-and even a tornado-firsthand. During their thrilling ride through the sky, Arnold gets lost! Will the Friz be able to save the day this time?

Teachers Have It Easy: The Big Sacrifices and Small Salaries of America's Teachers

• ISBN13: 9781595581280
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The bestselling call to action for improving the working lives of public school teachersâ€"and improving our classrooms along the way.

Since its initial publication and multiple reprints in hardcover in 2005, Teachers Have It Easy has attracted the attention of teachers nationwide, appearing on the New York Times extended bestseller list, C-SPAN, and NPR's Marketplace, in addition to receiving strong reviews nationwide. Now available for the first time in paperback, this groundbreaking book examines how bad policy makes teachers' lives miserable.

Many teachers today must work two or more jobs to survive; they cannot afford to buy homes or raise families. Interweaving teache! rs' voices from across the country with hard-hitting facts and figures, this book is a clear-eyed view of the harsh realities of public school teaching, without chicken-soup-for-the-soul success stories.

With a look at the problems of recruitment and retention, the myths of short workdays and endless summer vacations, the realities of the work week, and shocking examples of how society views America's teachers, Teachers Have It Easy explores the best ways to improve public education and transform our schools.

Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room

• Based on the best-selling book of the same name by Fortune reporters Bethany McLean and Peter Elkind, a multidimensional study of one of the biggest business scandals in American history. The chronicle takes a look at one of the greatest corporate disasters in history, in which top executives from the 7th largest company in this country walked away with over one billion dollars, leaving investors

ENRON:SMARTEST GUYS IN THE ROOM - DVD MovieOne of the greatest scandals in American corporate history is chronicled in the riveting documentary Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room. Based on the bestselling book by Fortune magazine reporters Bethany McLean and Peter Elkin, and directed by Alex Gibney (who also produced The Trials of Henry Kissinger), the film is an epic morality tale, drawing upon a wealth of insider interviews and archival material to show how Enron, once the na! tion's seventh largest corporate entity, essentially faked its bookkeeping to report profits that never existed. The corrupt and closely-guarded mismanagement by Enron executives (including Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey Skilling, later placed on criminal trial) is revealed through such heinous concepts as "Hypothetical Future Value" (a way of reaping fortunes based on false profit projections) and the use of offshore "shell" companies to hide the massive losses that eventually toppled the company (along with the venerable Arthur Anderson accounting firm) and left 20,000 employees jobless. As a maddening portrait of hubris and white-collar crime, Enron transcends political and corporate boundaries by showing how smart and powerful men grew blinded by greed and brought ruin upon themselves, along with thousands of otherwise innocent victims. For better and worse, it's a perfect double-feature with eye-opening 2004 documentary The Corporation. --Jeff Shannon
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Beyond the Sea

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One of America’s greatest performers, Bobby Darin lived a rags-to-riches life. He worked his way from shady nightclubs to his dream destination, The Copacabana, where he wowed crowds with "Splish Splash," "Mack the Knife" and other hits. He was a marvel at singing, songwriting and performing â€" stealing the hearts of fans everywhere despite the suffering in his own hear.The chameleon-like actor Kevin Spacey is best known for playing pyschopaths (in Seven and The Usual Suspects) and capturing a creepy mid-life crisis in American Beauty--but surprisingly, playing crooner Bobby Darin, Spacey does some snappy dancing and top-notch singing. Beyond the Sea puts Darin's life through a bit of a kaleidoscope: While singing Darin's most memorable hit, "Mack the Knife," Darin suddenly stops the show, revealing that he's not at a nightclub, but in the middle of a s! hooting a scene about his life as a nightclub performer. Why has he stopped? Because he's just seen himself as a young boy, peering from behind a curtain. Such self-conscious narrative twists recur throughout the movie, turning Darin's fight for fame and respect into a love story between his adult and childhood selves. Sandra Dee (Kate Bosworth, Win a Date with Tad Hamilton!), a hugely popular movie star in her own right, was supposedly the love of Darin's life, but she never holds his attention as does his childhood self (played by newcomer William Ullrich). It's a striking metaphor for the narcissism that drives such success-hungry entertainers. But despite (or perhaps because of) the complexity of the telling, the events never grip your emotions; though Darin's life featured hits galore and a few soap opera twists, his story lacks the seductive charm of his nighclub show. Also featuring Bob Hoskins, John Goodman, Brenda Blethyn, and Greta Scacchi. --Bret Fetzer!