Never properly trained, he's been learning on the job. Outwitting vampires, wrestling werewolves, banishing powerful demons – all while holding down a teaching gig. But wizarding is in his blood, and he’ll do whatever it takes to protect his dysfunctional city, even if he mashes a few toes along the way. Watch your feet. Readers react: ★★★★★ "Spellbinding!” ★★★★★ "Kept me glued to every page. An awesome character with an amazing life." ★★★★★ "Professor Everson Croft is supernatural but never superhuman. He lives and breathes and has doubts and a wicked sense of the ironic. Can't wait for more!" ★★★★★ "This series had me hooked after the first novel. Five books in, and it's still got me wanting more." ★★★★★ "As a book lover and admirer of magic, I love this series!" This value set features the first four novels and the prequel novella in the Prof Croft series: Book of Souls, Demon Moon, Blood Deal, Purge City, and Death Mage. If you like occult action, spell-crackling suspense, and moments of heart, heroism, and all-out laughter, you’ll love Prof Croft!

    A VERY SMART KID IS KIDNAPPED, HIS PARENTS KILLED AND SENT TO A PLACE CALLED "THE INSTITUTE." THE EXPERIENCES OF HIM AND OTHER SMART KIDS ARE DESCRIBED.

    Rebecca brings us back to our better selves! -Naomi Shihab NyeIt's no secret that reading aloud to children every single day is one of the most important things any teacher, parent, or grown up can do to help children become better readers, thinkers, and frankly, better human beings. There are many resources available-scores of books, articles, web sites, videos, podcasts, and more that highlight the research on why reading aloud to kids is so vital, how to incorporate it into the day, and lists of texts to choose from for each grade level.The Artful Read-Aloud is a user-friendly guide that builds a bridge between the artistic world and the classroom, providing a deeper dive into the artistry of reading aloud. Rebecca Bellingham draws on her experience as a performer, teaching artist, classroom teacher, and literacy coach to make explicit connections between the arts and reading aloud, providing dozens of easy moves teachers can make that can enhance, elevate, and deepen the impact of interactive read-alouds.Each chapter focuses on a specific guiding principle that is drawn from the arts and is meant to spark engagement, provoke inquiry, and inspire deep thinking. She includes practical tips for how to bring each principle to life in the classroom, including:how to embody the text by making small shifts with your body and voice to bring the words to life, helping kids envision different characters and their actions more completely learning when to slow down, pause, and read in an deliberate and careful way to give kids time to think, feel, process, and connect when and how to create opportunities for talk, giving kids the space to ask questions and reflect on what they notice, wonder, and predict how to give kids a chance to move around as they try on characters, recreate scenes, learn about new concepts, and live inside the book prioritizing read alouds that give students practice listening to and learning from diverse voices while creating space for meaningful conversation about important issues relating to injustice, identity, inequality, and more ways to be intentional in your choices, from matching books to the students in front of you to choosing passages that support instructional goals and teaching points. Reading aloud to your students supports a balanced, rigorous, and joyful literacy curriculum that not only feeds the souls and minds of your students but your own as well. Dip into The Artful Read-Aloud and see what's possible inside your daily read-alouds. By learning to make simple moves that model what real reading looks and sounds like you can help your students become the kind of readers all of us hope they will become: engaged, thoughtful, lifelong ones.

    Perfect for parents who wish to teach their children and for those who would like to learn or relearn the facts themselves, A Classical Education is informative and educational, but in a completely accessible way, including:• Latin and Greek• Logic and philosophy• Natural sciences• Art and architecture• Poetry and drama• History and Classical literatureAlso including suggestions for further reading and entertaining tit-bits of information on the classics, A Classical Education is a must for anyone feeling let down by modern schooling.

    Some of the best are the extraordinary people he has met who have made deliberate choices to live happier lives despite the extreme hardship that each of them have faced. Although life will knock us down from time to time, this book is an important reminder that we all can make a choice to get back up, brush ourselves off, and keep pressing forward.Replace anger with forgiveness through studying the real-life examples of seven inspiring mentors.Avoid discouragement by purposefully recognizing God's hand in your life.Diminish the heartache from tragedy through the concentrated act of serving others.Gain insights from parents who were deliberate in safeguarding their children against harmful influences.Stand strong through life's adversity through the examples of powerful prayer.

    A few miles off the Yucatán coast, Jack and a team of scientists tow an aging drilling platform over the impact crater with the aim of securing a sample. But buried deep beneath the earth lies a shocking discovery that threatens to shatter everything we think we know about our species.A world away, geneticist Dr. Mia Ward receives a mysterious delivery from her former boss and mentor, Alan Salzburg. In it are clues of a dire warning hidden inside the human genome, one which foretells man's very extinction.His instructions to Mia are simple: keep the information safe and, above all, trust no one--words all the more chilling after Alan turns up dead. But who wrote the message and what does it mean? Only Jack Greer holds the answers, but can she reach him in time to save the human race?Extinction CountdownDr. Jack Greer's startling discovery beneath the Gulf of Mexico proved to the world we were not alone in the universe. But when images from the Voyager One space probe reveal an alien doomsday ship hurtling toward the Earth, the human race seems marked for extinction.As news of the approaching ship spreads panic around the globe, signs of a sinister plot begin to emerge--one that threatens to unravel the already fragile fabric of society and everything Jack and Dr. Mia Ward have fought for.But could a mysterious signal emanating from inside Greenland's ice sheet unlock the secrets hidden within our genome and prevent humanity's destruction?From the frozen fields of Greenland to the bustling Indian subcontinent and the cobbled streets of Rome, the race is on to stop the deadliest countdown to extinction the human race has ever known.Extinction CrisisWith the doomsday ship only days away from impacting the Earth, humanity's demise seems all but assured. In every corner of the world, news of the impending destruction has led to chaos, looting and the collapse of the rule of law.As the foundations of civilization crumble around them, Jack and Mia must race to find answers to perhaps the most important questions of all time. Why have the Ateans repeatedly eradicated life on our planet? And could the key to ending the cycle of extinctions be locked somewhere within the Salzburg Chromosome?Unraveling the mystery will mean journeying deep into the heart of a perilous alien world and facing off against the very beings who created us.

     But now he works for Grey Fox, the super secret agency that takes care of business that the White House would prefer to keep under wraps. A vicious killer has been attacking schools in America, killing without mercy. And when it looks like the killer might be a former special forces soldier who has gone rogue, Yokely could be the only man who can stop him. Praise for Stephen Leather’s Dan "Spider" Shepherd series: Let Spider draw you into his web, you won't regret it. — The Sun The sheer impetus of his storytelling is damned hard to resist. — Daily Express A master of the thriller genre. — Irish Times

    The effects of homeopathy don’t go away under rigorous scientific conditions. The laws of nature aren’t what they used to be. Thirty years on, no one has an explanation for a seemingly intelligent signal received from outer space. The US Department of Energy is re-examining cold fusion because the experimental evidence seems too solid to ignore. The placebo effect is put to work in medicine while doctors can’t agree whether it even exists.In an age when science is supposed to be king, scientists are beset by experimental results they simply can’t explain. But, if the past is anything to go by, these anomalies contain the seeds of future revolutions. While taking readers on an entertaining tour d’horizon of the strangest of scientific findings – involving everything from our lack of free will to Martian methane that offers new evidence of life on the planet – Michael Brooks argues that the things we don’t understand are the key to what we are about to discover.This mind-boggling but entirely accessible survey of the outer limits of human knowledge is based on a short article by Michael Brooks for New Scientist magazine. It became the sixth most circulated story on the internet in 2005, and provoked widespread comment and compliments (Google “13 things that do not make sense” to see).Michael Brooks has now dug deeply into those mysteries, with extraordinary results.

    For centuries, the power of zero savored of the demonic; once harnessed, it became the most important tool in mathematics. Zero follows this number from its birth as an Eastern philosophical concept to its struggle for acceptance in Europe and its apotheosis as the mystery of the black hole. Today, zero lies at the heart of one of the biggest scientific controversies of all time, the quest for the theory of everything. Elegant, witty, and enlightening, Zero is a compelling look at the strangest number in the universe and one of the greatest paradoxes of human thought.

    Luckily, she was able to find a friend in Darren Jones, the boy whose family owns half the city. He offered her protection and friendship, but what he wanted in return was more than Tara was willing to give. Eventually, Tara leaves the city she grew up in, looking to start a new life. What she cultivates is far from the traditional progression of things, and Tara soon finds that sometimes what you don't want is exactly what you need. When tragic circumstances cause her to return to the city that she hates, it feels like everyone she has ever damaged is there to haunt her. Just when it seems like the ghosts of her past are going to drag her down into the pit of despair, there's a light at the end of the tunnel in the form of an old friend. But when things turn a bit more than friendly, Tara finds herself caught between two men, trapped between her past and her future. Damaged is loosely based off of Behind Her Green Eyes, a novel referenced in the Wrong or Write series. Content Warning: This story contains adult content. Reader discretion is advised. Themes in this book: College/New Adult, Coming of Age, Love Triangles, Romance

    Witnesses describe being kidnapped by large-headed, black-eyed creatures from other worlds. Those same creatures have become popularly known as “the Grays.” There is, however, another aspect to the alien abduction controversy.Abductees very often report being followed and spied upon by military and government personnel. It is typical for abductees to see black helicopters hovering directly over their homes in an intimidating manner. Phone calls are monitored. Emails are hacked into. Strange men dressed in black suits are seen photographing the homes of the abductees. All of this brings us to the matter of what have become known in the domain of alien abduction research as “Military Abductions,” or “MILABS.”According to numerous abductees, after being kidnapped by aliens they are kidnapped again . . . by the government. These follow-up events are the work of a powerful group hidden deep within the military and the intelligence community. It is the secret agenda of this highly classified organization to figure out what the so-called Grays are really up to. And, the best way for the government to get the answers is to interrogate those who have come face-to-face with the UFO phenomenon: the abductees. Why is the government secretly compiling files on alien abductees? Is the alien abduction issue so sinister that it has become a matter of national security proportions?

    But something went terribly wrong. By day's end, some would be alive. Others would not. A close-knit community would be devastated, forced to endure. This gripping true story centers on what happened to one courageous and flawed young man who survived, and how his life quickly spiraled out of control in the next two years. It is a story about love, unbreakable friendship, and "king" corn. “There are some forty-five thousand items in the average American supermarket and more than a quarter of them now contain corn,” writes Michael Pollan in The Omnivore’s Dilemma. But as international dependence on the highly subsidized crop for cattle feed, corn syrup and ethanol has surged—so have deaths by corn. Based on three years of reporting and interviews with the people involved and thousands of pages of court documents, transcripts, police reports, journalist Erika Hayasaki brings to life (in narrative nonfiction-style) this world of people who risk and sometimes lose their lives for this powerful commodity. Hayasaki, a former national correspondent for the Los Angeles Times, is the author of The Death Class: A True Story About Life (Simon & Schuster 2014), as well as the Kindle Single, Dead or Alive (2012). She is an assistant professor in the Literary Journalism Program at the University of California, Irvine, and a regular contributor to Newsweek and The Atlantic. *Cover design by Kristen RadtkePraise for DROWNED BY CORN:THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE: "The descriptions of the accident are chilling: a blow-by-blow account of the grain pulling the young men under and the dramatic rescue of Will, who survived after being buried past his chest. The piece follows Will as his grief sends him into a downward spiral. "Drowned by Corn" is a gripping narrative of tenderness and horror, friendship and loss." — Megan KirbySAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE: "Erika Hayasaki’s suspenseful account of the deaths of Paco and Wyatt and the harrowing rescue of Will is the stuff of nightmares. But what elevates this fine work of investigative journalism is her portrayal of Will in the aftermath: his survival guilt, his struggle with alcohol and drugs, his strained relationships and his eventual discovery of a way to endure his and his town’s unspeakable losses." — Porter Shreve

    Pulling themes from all of his major books, Metaxas helps us understand why these spiritual truths meant so much to Bonhoeffer and how they can be an inspiration and challenge to our faith.This study guide will lead you and your group deeper with session-by-session discussion topics, personal reflection, and between-session studies to enhance the group experience.Sessions include:What is the Church?Living in Christian CommunityReligionless ChristianityCome and DieDesigned for use with the Bonhoeffer Video Guide (sold separately).

    Anthony Brandt and David Eagleman rifle through the inventions of human society like paleontologists ransacking the fossil record. Exploring examples from Apollo 13 to Pablo Picasso, they seek to answer the question: what lies at the heart of humanity's ability--and drive--to create? If you took a snapshot of any animal species' behavior, from apes to barnacles, and contrasted it with the same species 10,000 years ago, they'd all be carrying on pretty much as usual (and if they aren't, it's likely due to human influence). Humanity, on the other hand, would be nearly unrecognizable. Above all else, our drive to create is what makes us unique among all living things. Yet where does this all creation, innovation, and change come from? Why us? And if we better understand this -cognitive software-, can we harness it more responsibly to improve our lives, schools, businesses and institutions? Brandt and Eagleman examine hundreds of examples of human creativity through dramatic storytelling and stunning images in this beautiful, full-color volume. By drawing out what creative acts have in common and viewing them through the lens of cutting-edge neuroscience, they uncover the essential elements of this critical human ability, and encourage a more creative future for all of us.

    Written in Michener's trademark intimate style--so loved by readers in his bestselling memoir The World Is My Home--this book is a must for all Americans in this election year.