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Walt Disney: The Triumph of the American Imagination

Neal Gabler

The definitive portrait of one of the most important cultural figures in American history: Walt Disney.

Walt Disney was a true visionary whose desire for escape, iron determination and obsessive perfectionism transformed animation from a novelty to an art form, first with Mickey Mouse and then with his feature films–most notably Snow White, Fantasia, and Bambi. In his superb biography, Neal Gabler shows us how, over the course of two decades, Disney revolutionized the entertainment industry. In a way that was unprecedented and later widely imitated, he built a synergistic empire that combined film, television, theme parks, music, book publishing, and merchandise. Walt Disney is a revelation of both the work and the man–of both the remarkable accomplishment and the hidden life.

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The Unofficial Guide to Disneyland 2015

Bob Sehlinger

The Unofficial Guide to Disneyland by Bob Sehlinger & Seth Kubersky makes Disneyland one of the most accessible theme parks in the world. With advice that is direct, prescriptive, and detailed, it takes the guesswork out of the reader's vacation. Whether they are at Disneyland for a day or a week, there is a plan for any group or family. They can enjoy the entertainment instead of spending their time in lines.

Comprehensive information is presented in a way that permits easy comparisons and facilitates decision-making. Detailed plans and profiles of hotels, restaurants, and attractions are presented in "at-a-glance” formats, providing for effortless communication of the most salient information. Profiles are supplemented by indexes. In short, we've got a plan for every reader.

The Unofficial Guide to Disneyland's research team is a multi-disciplinary group consisting, among others, of data collectors, computer scientists, statisticians, and psychologists. Their singular goal is to provide a guide that lets you get it right the first time, and every time. With their help, advice, and touring plans, readers have a one-up on anyone else not using The Unofficial Guide to Disneyland. The book is the key to planning a perfect vacation in a great destination location.

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Walt Disney: Hollywood's Dark Prince

Marc Eliot

This biography of the man behind the magic reconciles the private 'monster' with the artistic genius of popular culture by showing that the disturbing problems of his own life provided the rich, dark side of the animated movies.

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Spartan Fit!

Joe De Sena

From the best-selling author of Spartan Up! a complete 30-day workout and diet plan to help you reach peak performance

Joe De Sena designed the Spartan races to test overall conditioning: strength, flexibility, endurance, and speed. His signature take-no-prisoners approach to achieving physical and mental fitness has taken the endurance world by storm and inspired millions. Now in Spartan Fit!, De Sena breaks down that approach and gives readers the tools they need to conquer the course -- and life, including:

- A 30-day workout and diet plan to prepare for the Spartan Sprint -- or to just get you in shape
- Full-body workouts requiring no gym, no weights
- How to build on one race to the next
- Inspiring, motivating stories of Spartans

A complete Spartan training guide, Spartan Fit! will arm readers with the strength, knowledge, and grit to never question their potential again.

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Find Your Path

Carrie Underwood

I want to be healthy and fit 52 weeks of the year, but that doesn't mean I have to be perfect every day. This philosophy is a year-round common-sense approach to health and fitness that involves doing your best most of the time--and by that I don't mean being naughty for three days and good for four. I mean doing your absolute best most of the time during every week, 52 weeks of the year.--Carrie Underwood

Carrie Underwood believes that fitness is a lifelong journey. She wasn't born with the toned arms and strong legs that fans know her for. Like all of us, she has to work hard every day to look the way that she does! In FIND YOUR PATH she shares her secrets with readers, with the ultimate goal of being the strongest version of themselves, and looking as good as they feel. Carrie's book will share secrets for fitting diet and exercise into a packed routine. Based on her own active lifestyle, diet, and workouts, FIND YOUR PATH is packed with meal plans, recipes, weekly workout programs, and guidelines for keeping a weekly food and workout journal. It also introduces readers to Carrie's signature Fit52 workout, which involves a deck of cards and exercises that can be done at home--and it sets her fans on a path to sustainable health and fitness for life. Fit52 begins with embracing the Pleasure Principle in eating, making healthy swaps in your favorite recipes, and embracing a long view approach to health--so that a cheat a day won't derail you.

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Just Move!

James Owen

This step-by-step guide provides all the information--and inspiration--you need to feel better, reduce aches and pains, and push back against aging with a personalized fitness program that's right for you.

Whatever your fitness goals or preferences, this book is designed to help you pursue the health program that works for you.

An inspirational speaker, author, and former Wall Street rainmaker, Jim Owen was 70 when he decided he had to get fit. Years of a chair-bound lifestyle were taking their toll. Realizing that the old bodybuilding approach was no way to tackle the stiffness, weakness, and aches and pains that come with age, he set off on a journey of discovery and transformation. With help from the experts, he developed a common-sense, step-by-step program that can be tailored to any level of physical ability. Along the way he learned why cardio machines aren't enough, what it takes to be "functionally fit" for daily life, and how to stay motivated. Today, Owen is in better shape than he was at 25, and he is a passionate evangelist for fitness as a way of life. He has proved that you don't have to be powerless in the face of advancing years: if you make a commitment to "just move," you can take charge of the aging process and make your coming years the best they can be.

The book is divided into two sections, with the first providing fascinating information and the second showing step-by-step details of how to put the best fitness principles into practice.

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Tighten Your Tummy in 2 Weeks

Ellington Darden

Tighten Your Tummy in 2 Weeks is a revolutionary new program that triggers hormones to burn more fat and melt pounds and inches primarily from the belly.

A woman's tummy has now replaced her thighs as the most-troublesome body part. Seventy-six percent of women surveyed in 2014 admitted that they were unhappy with their midsection. And a large tummy is a warning sign of significant potential health issues.

QUESTION: How would you like to lose 14 inches from your waist and 14 pounds of body fat in only 14 days?

The proof is in the pictures: 41 women at Gainesville Health & Fitness in Florida tested the Tighten Your Tummy in 2 Weeks program under the direction of fitness expert Ellington Darden, PhD, who documented success stories with remarkable before-and-after photographs.

What causes such rapid loss of midsection flab? The answer is Dr. Darden's remarkable 5-step formula:

1) A special at-home resistance exercise technique called "15-15-15, plus 8 to 12" triggers fat cells to burn and release fat, effectively "spot-reducing" the belly.

2) A carbohydrate-rich eating plan of five or six small meals a day. Yes, "carbs are okay." A bagel for breakfast is on the daily meal plan.

3) Extra sleep at night and a nap during the day to turbo-charge the shrinking of pounds and inches.

4) A tummy-tightening trick called the inner-abs vacuum that's performed before every meal.

5) Sipping ice-cold water all day long, which synergizes the loss of fat and the strengthening of muscle.

 

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Thinner in 30

Jenna Wolfe

"A month from now, you'll wish you had started today.Yes, a month is all it takes to see long-term results.And seriously-even YOU can lose that weight! Food and exercise fads come and go, mainly because they just aren't sustainable. After a few days, you're hungry, bored, or hungry AND bored. That's why the Today show's very first lifestyle and fitness correspondent, Jenna Wolfe, created her famous 30-Day Fitness Challenge for her viewers. The challenge was wildly successful because of its unprecedented and simple approach to everyday health and fitness-one small tip a day for 30 days. Now, in THINNER IN 30, Jenna takes her foolproof program to the next level, giving you the tools and motivation you'll need to achieve your wellness goals with thirty small changes that add up to big results-in as few as 30 days. It's all possible without joining a gym, counting calories, or signing up for a trendy class you can't even pronounce. The perfect plan for busy men and women of all ages and fitness levels, THINNER IN 30 puts the focus on small, bite-size tips which lead to long-term weight loss. Jenna blends athletic wisdom, laugh-out-loud humor, and easy-to-follow advice, like how many times to chew your food per bite, what the heck carbs are all about, and how to sneak in workouts without any time, money, equipment, or energy (pretty much covering any excuse you may have). THINNER IN 30 will help you discover just how easy it is to get healthy without having to deprive yourself or work out 12 hours a day."--

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The Pilates Bible

Lynne Robinson

The most comprehensive and easily accessible guide to Pilates ever.

The Pilates Bible is the modern guide to this superb fitness program. The authors, all expert Pilates instructors, correlate their own practical experience with up-to-date knowledge, new exercises and brand-new modifications supported by recent medical findings.

Clear step-by-step photographs show the exercises, and captions provide tips on form and movement. There is a range of workout choices designed for sessions lasting 20 to 30 minutes, 40 to 50 minutes and 60 to 70 minutes.

The book includes:

  • The guiding principles and fundamentals of Pilates
  • Beginner, intermediate and advanced mat work
  • General health benefits and benefits for specific medical conditions
  • Pilates for sedentary and active lifestyles, sports and weight training
  • Pilates in the local gym, at work and while traveling
  • Prenatal and postnatal exercises
  • Exercises for menopausal and postmenopausal women
  • A survey of studio equipment and small equipment

Designed as a practical all-in-one guide, The Pilates Bible is the most authoritative and comprehensive book on Pilates available. Students, practitioners and instructors will find this book indispensable.

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Hatha Yoga Illustrated

Martin Kirk

Experience the physical benefits and body awareness from hatha yoga--the most popular form of yoga today. Hatha Yoga Illustrated presents nearly 650 full-color photos to visually demonstrate 77 standard poses from hatha yoga that apply to all major hatha styles including Iyengar, Astanga, Anusara, and Bikram.

Individual poses are presented from start to finish, showing you how to achieve proper alignment and breathing to ensure challenging yet safe execution. The result is an increase in the effectiveness, both physically and mentally, you'll experience with each pose. Several pose variations based on your personal preference, ability, and fitness level are also included.

Eleven sample yoga routines show how to assemble the poses into workouts that meet your specific time, difficulty, and intensity parameters. Colorful and comprehensive, Hatha Yoga Illustrated is organized for your ultimate convenience and use. Use it to guide your muscles, as well as your mind, and increase strength and stamina, reduce stress and anxiety, reduce blood pressure, and increase flexibility.

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Walk Your Butt Off

Sarah Lorge Butler

The practical walking program that takes readers from flabby to fit in 12 weeks with a variety of walks and easy-to-incorporate lifestyle changes. This simple plan teaches readers how to incrementally build their walking speed so that they lose weight faster. Developed by former Prevention fitness director and walking expert Michele Stanten, Walk Your Butt Off! will not only get complete beginners started with a walking program but will also help the more than 100 million Americans who already walk for exercise to break through plateaus and boost their results. Readers will also come to view walking as an athletic endeavor and see their workouts as an inviolable part of their day. And, at no more than 30 minutes each, these daily walks can fit into even the busiest schedule. Paired with simple nutrition secrets from renowned sports nutritionist Leslie Bonci, this easy step-by-step guide to permanent weight loss is suitable for everyone.

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Tracy Anderson's 30-Day Method

Tracy Anderson

Did you know muscles get bored, just like people do? And did you also know that there's a 9 out of 10 chance that you're working the wrong muscles when you exercise? With TRACY ANDERSON'S 30-DAY METHOD you don't have to worry--her unique workout will help you drop the weight and shrink your body in just 30 days.

Based on ten years of scientific research and experience getting not just herself, but A-list stars and everyday people, red carpet ready, Anderson has developed a unique 30-day diet and workout routine that reshapes the body and defies genetics to tone the muscles and drop the pounds. While most people incorrectly target their major muscle groups, like the bicep or hamstring, the focus should be on the smaller accessory muscles that can create a long, lean, balanced look--instead of bulked up look. Anderson's program is composed of a groundbreaking three-tiered approach, including a mat workout and cardio routine targeting the all-important accessory muscles, and an exclusive 30-day meal plan, complete with dozens of delicious recipes.

This comprehensive kick-start program is unlike any other workout on the market and it leaves no chance for anything but terrific, fast results!

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Thinner this Year

Chris Crowley

Chris Crowley, the memorable patient and coauthor of Younger Next Year, partners with Jen Sacheck, a nutritionist and exercise physiologist from Tufts University, and in lively, alternating chapters they spell out a weight-loss plan that will have readers lose up to 25 pounds in the first six months--and keep it off for life. The message is straightforward and based on the most up-to-date nutritional science: Avoid "dead," i.e., nutrient-poor, foods, particularly the SOFAS (solid fats, added sugars) choices that comprise more than a third of our diet. Design your plate to be 50% vegetables and fruits, 25% whole grains, and 25% lean proteins. Skip the supplements. Never drink your calories. And exercise.

Thinner This Year tells you how to eat and how to exercise, from the best aerobic workouts to a lifetime supply of 25 whole-body strength exercises--the "Sacred 25"--that will build muscle, protect joints, and add mobility. Exercise will do more than anything else to put off 70% of "normal" aging until the very end and eliminate 50% of serious illness and injury.

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Walk Away the Pounds

Leslie Sansone

The #1 name in fitness videos delivers her first book on the principles, exercises, and recipes for healthy living.Leslie Sansone and her fitness videos have been more successful at getting women up off the couch and walking than anyone or anything else in the fitness industry. The secret? Removing the intimidation that keeps so many women from getting started. Now, in her first book, Leslie includes a breakthrough 6-week program to help readers easily walk away the pounds, using walking and strength-training routines to burn fat, firm muscle, and increase metabolism. With chapters devoted to diet and nutrition, obesity, and the elderly, WALK AWAY THE POUNDS is infused with the infectious blend of motivation, warmth, and spirit that has made Leslie famous and given millions of women a new chance at healthy living.

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The 12 Day Body Shaping Miracle

Michael Thurmond (personal trainer.)

In 12-DAY BODY SHAPING MIRACLE, Michael Thurmond presents his breakthrough exercise program for getting your body into a better proportional balance. Using Thurmond's exclusive "blueprinting system", you'll identify your unique metabolism and body type. You'll then discover a personalized exercise plan to quickly target your specific problem areas and transform your body shape in just 12 days. Thurmond's unique program focuses on sculpting muscles through select, easy-to-do weight training techniques with cardiovascular activity. And, no matter what your starting weight, level of fitness or shape is, Thurmond guarantees rapid results.

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Work it Out

MaDonna Grimes

Black women tend to have fuller, curvier figures than other women. Their body types do not necessarily meet the "fitness industry standard"-smaller frames and thinner bodies. Having few realistic fitness role models, many African American women wind up feeling frustrated about being unable to reduce their curves to match those of the models in the fitness magazines.

In Work It Out, fitness expert MaDonna Grimes offers black women a different ideal to work toward-one suited to their unique physiques. Drawing from her experience as a professional dancer, choreographer, and fitness competitor, Grimes has fashioned a revolutionary program specifically for black women, to help them attain their fitness goals and build self-esteem. Her dynamic, innovative plan includes hip-hop and Afro-Latin dance moves, weight training, stretching, and proper nutrition. She also addresses the health issues common to black women, such as obesity, hypertension, and diabetes, and explains how they can be avoided with proper nutrition and exercise.

MaDonna Grimes' fresh approach is long overdue. Work It Out promises to deliver personal power, optimal health, and the beautiful body that only a black woman can achieve.

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Full-body Flexibility

Jay Blahnik

Incorporate the best, most advanced techniques into your stretching program! Full-Body Flexibility presents a unique system that blends the best stretching methods from yoga, Pilates, martial arts, and sports training into stretching sequences that
-challenge muscles with multiple techniques to attain maximum flexibility,

-strengthen muscles so that they can support the body throughout specific moves in the entire range of motion, and

-balance muscles equally in opposing muscle groups and on both sides of the body. The stretch sequences are organized by body region and by type of movement so that you can quickly find a flexibility workout ranging from 10 to 40 minutes. The workouts help you to target tight muscle groups and relieve tension around problem joints, increase effectiveness of specific movements, and warm up and cool down for your specific activity.

Full-Body Flexibility also includes performance and recovery stretch sequences for the most popular sports, including sports that involve throwing and swinging, jumping and power, and running and endurance. Stretches are accompanied by photos and detailed instruction to help you execute each technique correctly.

Full-Body Flexibility offers the most advanced, effective stretching system available, head to toe.

 

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BodyChange

Montel Williams

We are all athletes in the sport of life. Whether you're "in training" to have a baby, to work 14 hours a day or, like Montel, to live with a chronic illness, your body is your equipment. In "Bodychange" "TM" Beyond Maintenance, Montel Williams and his personal trainer, Wini Linguvic, show you how to find the athlete within.But that's only the beginning. Once you realize that you can change your body, you can move mountains! You'll build you confidence and nurture your inner strength. What you accomplish while working out will propel you forward in other areas of your life. Change your body... and your mind will follow!All you need to do is suspend your disbelief for an hour a day for 21 days, and spend that time with Montel and Wini's weight training and aerobic exercise program. Laced with personal stories and illustrative photographs, "Bodychange": Beyond Maintenance, shows you how to work out in a way that is smart, safe, and effective. This program emphasizes form, awareness, and the importance of challenging yourself and your limitations.The sport is life. How you play is up to you!

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Together

Charles Fuge

For bedtime or cuddle time, here's a sweet and reassuring picture book about the love, friendship, and togetherness of a parent and child.

A parent and baby polar bear have a fun-filled, loving day together in their cheerful Arctic home, as the big bear reassures the little bear that they will be best friends forever. You'll love snuggling up with your little one and this adorable and soothing picture book celebrating togetherness, friendship, and the unbreakable bonds of family.

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A Polar Bear in the Snow

Mac Barnett

A majestic polar bear heads out on a mysterious walk in a dazzling, playful collaboration from an exciting pair of picture-book creators.

Follow a magnificent polar bear through a fantastic world of snow and shockingly blue sea. Over the ice, through the water, past Arctic animals and even a human . . . where is he going? What does he want? Acclaimed author Mac Barnett's narration deftly balances suspense and emotion, as well as poignant, subtle themes, compelling us to follow the bear with each page turn. Artist Shawn Harris's striking torn-paper illustrations layer white-on-white hues, with bolts of blue and an interplay of shadow and light, for a gorgeous view of a stark yet beautiful landscape. Simple and thought-provoking, illuminating and intriguing, this engaging picture book will have readers pondering the answer to its final question long after the polar bear has continued on his way.

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Sea Bear

Lindsay Moore

Lindsay Moore’s remarkable and beautifully illustrated picture book follows a lone polar bear as she makes her way across sea ice in the Arctic. Sea Bear is a deeply moving and informative story about perseverance, family, nature, and climate change that will resonate with readers of all ages.

A solitary polar bear travels across the sea ice in pursuit of food. As the ice melts and food becomes scarce, she is forced to swim for days. Finally, storm-tossed and exhausted, she finds shelter on land, where she gives birth to cubs and waits for the sea to freeze again.

 

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Roly Poly

Mem Fox

Roly Poly the polar bear gets a little brother he did not ask for, in this charming story about sibling rivalry and the bonds of family from the beloved picture book creators of Time for Bed, Mem Fox and Jane Dyer.

Roly Poly the polar bear loves being an only child. His bed is only his. The fish he catches are only his. And he doesn’t have to share his toy walrus tooth with anyone. But then along comes baby Monty. Roly Poly did not ask for a little brother and he certainly does not want one now! What is Roly Poly to do when Monty starts making him share his bed and fish and walrus tooth?

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Pup and Bear

Kate Banks

This deeply emotional read-aloud about a lost wolf pup who is raised by a loving polar bear is sure to resonate with families – particularly non-traditional ones.
You are not my mother, said the wolf pup.
I am not your mother, said the polar bear, but I can cuddle you and keep you safe.

During the ice melt that follows an Arctic winter, a wolf cub finds himself spinning out to sea on a sheet of ice. He awakes lost and alone to an unfamiliar smell: a polar bear. And while the polar bear is not the wolf's mother, she takes him on her back to her den, where she feeds him, keeps him warm, and does everything a mother would do. Time passes, the cub grows into a wolf, and soon it's time for him to venture out into the wide world alone. Years later, the now grown wolf comes upon a tiny lost polar bear cub--and the cycle begins again. With poetic prose this beautiful picture book about the love and kindness of a stranger is sure to touch a deep chord, particularly with parents and children who have found each other in unexpected ways.

 

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Virgil & Owen Stick Together

Paulette Bogan

Virgil and Owen are best friends! They love playing together at home and at school. But sometimes even best friends can be very different. Virgil loves to be the first one to school. Owen likes to take his time. Virgil always raises his hand the fastest. Owen likes to think things through. One day Virgil hurries Owen a bit too much, and their friendship is suddenly on thin ice. Will Virgil be able to see that a little patience goes a long way between friends?

In a new adventure for this lovable duo, Virgil and Owen show that even if friends don't agree, they can always find a way to have fun.

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Ida, Always

Caron Levis

A beautiful, honest portrait of loss and deep friendship told through the story of two iconic polar bears.

Gus lives in a big park in the middle of an even bigger city, and he spends his days with Ida. Ida is right there. Always.

Then one sad day, Gus learns that Ida is very sick, and she isn’t going to get better. The friends help each other face the difficult news with whispers, sniffles, cuddles, and even laughs. Slowly Gus realizes that even after Ida is gone, she will still be with him—through the sounds of their city, and the memories that live in their favorite spots.

Ida, Always is an exquisitely told story of two best friends—inspired by a real bear friendship—and a gentle, moving, needed reminder that loved ones lost will stay in our hearts, always.

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The Polar Bear

Jenni Desmond

A gorgeously illustrated nonfiction book about the polar bear, this is a factually accurate as well as a poetic exploration of polar bear bodies, habits, and habitats. Working in a painterly, expressive way, Jenni Desmond creates landscapes and creatures that are marked by atmosphere and emotion, telling a story about bears that engages the reader's interest in amazing facts as well as their deep sense of wonder.

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Polar Bear Morning

Lauren Thompson

A polar bear cub explores her artic world and finds something new--a friend. On a chill, bright morning, a polar bear cub awakes inside her cozy den. She hears the seagulls' far-away calls and clambers out into the day. Suddenly a snowy something tumbles down a little snow hill. She sees a snowy face, snowy paws, and snowy fur. What can it be? Thrilling words and glowing pictures make this morning-time tale of first friendship as satisfying as a warm hug.

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A Polar Bear's World

Caroline Arnold

The arctic wind howls, but the two polar bear cubs are warm inside their den. They snuggle tight against their mother and drink her milk. Three months later, they tumble outside for their first walk in the snow. Bundle up and find out what happens in a polar bear's world.

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Waiting for Ice

Sandra Markle

Based on a true story, Waiting for Ice follows an orphaned polar bear cub as she struggles to find food on Wrangel Island, far north in the Arctic Ocean. Left alone at ten months old, the young female finds herself up against other bears who are bigger and stronger than she is—and just as hungry. Due to rising temperatures, the bears are trapped on the island until the ice packs reform. Only then can they venture out to hunt for seals and whales, using the ice as life raft.

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Ice Bear

Nicola Davies

Follow the path of the awe-inspiring polar bear as it strives to survive in an age-old Arctic habitat threatened by global warming.

Huge, magnificent, and solitary, a polar bear moves through the frozen Arctic. Powerful hunter, tireless swimmer, tender mother, gentle playmate — she is superbly adapted for surviving, even thriving, in this harsh and icy climate. Written in poetic language interspersed with fascinating facts, Nicola Davies' breathtaking tale of this massive, stark white animal is brought to life in striking paintings by Gary Blythe. Just as the Inuit people have watched and learned from this amazing creature for generations, readers are invited to witness the majesty of Ice Bear.

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SNOW BEAR

Jean George

When Bessie decides to explore a frozen ice ship one morning, she finds a new playmate -- a baby polar bear. Snow Bear and Bessie are instant friends, but Bessie's brother and Snow Bear's mother are worried. The grown-ups wait and watch the little ones play to be sure nothing happens that will break up the happy pair.

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One Special Night

Two strangers take refuge in a small cabin during a stormy winter night and, despite their many differences, or perhaps because of them, they are undeniably drawn to one another in this holiday tale.

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Winter's Tale

Set in a mythic New York City and spanning more than a century, follow a story of miracles, crossed destinies, and the age-old battle between good and evil.

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Gulag: a History

Anne Applebaum

The Gulag—a vast array of Soviet concentration camps that held millions of political and criminal prisoners—was a system of repression and punishment that terrorized the entire society, embodying the worst tendencies of Soviet communism. Applebaum intimately re-creates what life was like in the camps and links them to the larger history of the Soviet Union. Immediately recognized as a landmark and long-overdue work of scholarship, Gulag is an essential book for anyone who wishes to understand the history of the twentieth century.

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Children of War

Deborah Ellis

In this book, Deborah Ellis turns her attention to the most tragic victims of the Iraq war -- Iraqi children. She interviews young people, mostly refugees living in Jordan, but also a few who are trying to build new lives in North America. Some families have left Iraq with money; others are penniless and ill or disabled. Most of the children have parents who are working illegally or not at all, and the fear of deportation is a constant threat.

Ellis provides an historical overview and brief explanations of context, but other than that allows the children to speak for themselves, with minimal editorial comment or interference. Their stories are frank, harrowing and sometimes show surprising resilience, as the children try to survive the consequences of a war in which they played no part. A glossary, map and suggestions for further information are included.

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Daring to Drive

Manal Sharif

A ferociously intimate memoir by a devout woman from a modest family in Saudi Arabia who became the unexpected leader of a courageous movement to support women’s right to drive.

Manal al-Sharif grew up in Mecca the second daughter of a taxi driver, born the year fundamentalism took hold. In her adolescence, she was a religious radical, melting her brother’s boy band cassettes in the oven because music was haram: forbidden by Islamic law. But what a difference an education can make. By her twenties she was a computer security engineer, one of few women working in a desert compound that resembled suburban America. That’s when the Saudi kingdom’s contradictions became too much to bear: she was labeled a slut for chatting with male colleagues, her teenage brother chaperoned her on a business trip, and while she kept a car in her garage, she was forbidden from driving down city streets behind the wheel.

Daring to Drive is the fiercely intimate memoir of an accidental activist, a powerfully vivid story of a young Muslim woman who stood up to a kingdom of men—and won. Writing on the cusp of history, Manal offers a rare glimpse into the lives of women in Saudi Arabia today. Her memoir is a remarkable celebration of resilience in the face of tyranny, the extraordinary power of education and female solidarity, and the difficulties, absurdities, and joys of making your voice heard.

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Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood

Trevor Noah

Trevor Noah’s unlikely path from apartheid South Africa to the desk of The Daily Show began with a criminal act: his birth. Trevor was born to a white Swiss father and a black Xhosa mother at a time when such a union was punishable by five years in prison. Living proof of his parents’ indiscretion, Trevor was kept mostly indoors for the earliest years of his life, bound by the extreme and often absurd measures his mother took to hide him from a government that could, at any moment, steal him away. Finally liberated by the end of South Africa’s tyrannical white rule, Trevor and his mother set forth on a grand adventure, living openly and freely and embracing the opportunities won by a centuries-long struggle.

Born a Crime is the story of a mischievous young boy who grows into a restless young man as he struggles to find himself in a world where he was never supposed to exist. It is also the story of that young man’s relationship with his fearless, rebellious, and fervently religious mother—his teammate, a woman determined to save her son from the cycle of poverty, violence, and abuse that would ultimately threaten her own life.

The stories collected here are by turns hilarious, dramatic, and deeply affecting. Whether subsisting on caterpillars for dinner during hard times, being thrown from a moving car during an attempted kidnapping, or just trying to survive the life-and-death pitfalls of dating in high school, Trevor illuminates his curious world with an incisive wit and unflinching honesty. His stories weave together to form a moving and searingly funny portrait of a boy making his way through a damaged world in a dangerous time, armed only with a keen sense of humor and a mother’s unconventional, unconditional love.

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Stonewall Riots: Coming Out in the Streets

Gayle E Pitman

This book is about the Stonewall Riots, a series of spontaneous, often violent demonstrations by members of the gay (LGBTQ+) community in reaction to a police raid that took place in the early morning hours of June 28, 1969, at the Stonewall Inn in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. The Riots are attributed as the spark that ignited the LGBTQ+ movement. The author describes American gay history leading up to the Riots, the Riots themselves, and the aftermath, and includes her interviews of people involved or witnesses, including a woman who was ten at the time. Profusely illustrated, the book includes contemporary photos, newspaper clippings, and other period objects. A timely and necessary read, The Stonewall Riots helps readers to understand the history and legacy of the LGBTQ+ movement.

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We Are Everywhere: Protest, Power, and Pride in the History of Queer Liberation

Matthew Riemer

Through the lenses of protest, power, and pride, We Are Everywhere is an essential and empowering introduction to the history of the fight for queer liberation. Combining exhaustively researched narrative with meticulously curated photographs, the book traces queer activism from its roots in late-nineteenth-century Europe—long before the pivotal Stonewall Riots of 1969—to the gender warriors leading the charge today.

Featuring more than 300 images from more than seventy photographers and twenty archives, this inclusive and intersectional book enables us to truly see queer history unlike anything before, with glimpses of activism in the decades preceding and following Stonewall, family life, marches, protests, celebrations, mourning, and Pride. By challenging many of the assumptions that dominate mainstream LGBTQ+ history, We Are Everywhere shows readers how they can—and must—honor the queer past in order to shape our liberated future.

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When They Call You a Terrorist

Patrisse Cullors

Raised by a single mother in an impoverished neighborhood in Los Angeles, Patrisse Khan-Cullors experienced firsthand the prejudice and persecution Black Americans endure at the hands of law enforcement. For Patrisse, the most vulnerable people in the country are Black people. Deliberately and ruthlessly targeted by a criminal justice system serving a white privilege agenda, Black people are subjected to unjustifiable racial profiling and police brutality. In 2013, when Trayvon Martin’s killer went free, Patrisse’s outrage led her to co-found Black Lives Matter with Alicia Garza and Opal Tometi.

Condemned as terrorists and as a threat to America, these loving women founded a hashtag that birthed the movement to demand accountability from the authorities who continually turn a blind eye to the injustices inflicted upon people of Black and Brown skin.

Championing human rights in the face of violent racism, Patrisse is a survivor. She transformed her personal pain into political power, giving voice to a people suffering inequality and a movement fueled by her strength and love to tell the country—and the world—that Black Lives Matter.

When They Call You a Terrorist is Patrisse Khan-Cullors and asha bandele’s reflection on humanity. It is an empowering account of survival, strength and resilience and a call to action to change the culture that declares innocent Black life expendable.

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In Order to Live

Yeonmi Park

In In Order to Live, Yeonmi Park shines a light not just into the darkest corners of life in North Korea, describing the deprivation and deception she endured and which millions of North Korean people continue to endure to this day, but also onto her own most painful and difficult memories. She tells with bravery and dignity for the first time the story of how she and her mother were betrayed and sold into sexual slavery in China and forced to suffer terrible psychological and physical hardship before they finally made their way to Seoul, South Korea—and to freedom.

Park confronts her past with a startling resilience. In spite of everything, she has never stopped being proud of where she is from, and never stopped striving for a better life. Indeed, today she is a human rights activist working determinedly to bring attention to the oppression taking place in her home country. Park’s testimony is heartbreaking and unimaginable, but never without hope. This is the human spirit at its most indomitable.

 

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Anne Frank: the Biography

Melissa Müller

Praised as "remarkable," "meticulous," and "long overdue," Anne Frank: The Biography, originally published in 1998, still stands as the definitive account of the girl who has become "the human face of the Holocaust." For this nuanced portrait of her famous subject, biographer Melissa Müller drew on exclusive interviews with family and friends as well as on previously unavailable correspondence, even, in the process, discovering five missing diary pages. Full of revelations, Müller's richly textured narrative returned Anne Frank to history, portraying the flesh-and-blood girl unsentimentalized and so all the more affecting.

Now, fifteen years after the book first appeared, much new information has come to light: letters sent by Otto Frank to relatives in America as he sought to emigrate with his family, the identity of other suspects involved in the betrayal of the Franks, and important details about the family's arrest and subsequent fate.

Revised and updated with more than thirty percent new material, this is an indispensable volume for all those who seek a deeper understanding of Anne Frank and the brutal times in which she lived and died.

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The American Crucible

Robin Blackburn

The American Crucible furnishes a vivid and authoritative history of the rise and fall of slavery in the Americas. For over three centuries enslavement promoted the rise of capitalism in the Atlantic world. The New World became the crucible for a succession of fateful experiments in colonization, silver mining, plantation agriculture, racial enslavement, colonial rebellion, slave witness and slave resistance. Slave produce raised up empires, fostered new cultures of consumption and financed the breakthrough to an industrial order.

Not until the stirrings of a revolutionary age in the 1780s was there the first public challenge to the ‘peculiar institution’. An anti-slavery alliance then set the scene for great acts of emancipation in Haiti in 1804, Britain in 1833–8, the United States in the 1860s, and Cuba and Brazil in the 1880s. In The American Crucible, Robin Blackburn argues that the anti-slavery movement forged many of the ideals we live by today.

‘The best treatment of slavery in the western hemisphere I know of. I think it should
establish itself as a permanent pillar of the literature.’ Eric Hobsbawm

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Caste: the Origins of Our Discontents

Isabel Wilkerson

“As we go about our daily lives, caste is the wordless usher in a darkened theater, flashlight cast down in the aisles, guiding us to our assigned seats for a performance. The hierarchy of caste is not about feelings or morality. It is about power—which groups have it and which do not.”
 
In this brilliant book, Isabel Wilkerson gives us a masterful portrait of an unseen phenomenon in America as she explores, through an immersive, deeply researched, and beautifully written narrative and stories about real people, how America today and throughout its history has been shaped by a hidden caste system, a rigid hierarchy of human rankings.
 
Beyond race, class, or other factors, there is a powerful caste system that influences people’s lives and behavior and the nation’s fate. Linking the caste systems of America, India, and Nazi Germany, Wilkerson explores eight pillars that underlie caste systems across civilizations, including divine will, bloodlines, stigma, and more. Using riveting stories about people—including Martin Luther King, Jr., baseball’s Satchel Paige, a single father and his toddler son, Wilkerson herself, and many others—she shows the ways that the insidious undertow of caste is experienced every day. She documents how the Nazis studied the racial systems in America to plan their outcasting of the Jews; she discusses why the cruel logic of caste requires that there be a bottom rung for those in the middle to measure themselves against; she writes about the surprising health costs of caste, in depression and life expectancy, and the effects of this hierarchy on our culture and politics. Finally, she points forward to ways America can move beyond the artificial and destructive separations of human divisions, toward hope in our common humanity.

Original and revealing, Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents is an eye-opening story of people and history, and a reexamination of what lies under the surface of ordinary lives and of American life today.

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So You Want to Talk About Race

Ijeoma Oluo

Protests against racial injustice and white supremacy have galvanized millions around the world. The stakes for transformative conversations about race could not be higher. Still, the task ahead seems daunting, and it’s hard to know where to start. How do you tell your boss her jokes are racist? Why did your sister-in-law hang up on you when you had questions about police reform? How do you explain white privilege to your white, privileged friend?

In So You Want to Talk About Race, Ijeoma Oluo guides readers of all races through subjects ranging from police brutality and cultural appropriation to the model minority myth in an attempt to make the seemingly impossible possible: honest conversations about race, and about how racism infects every aspect of American life.

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White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism

Dr. Robin DiAngelo

In this “vital, necessary, and beautiful book” (Michael Eric Dyson), antiracist educator Robin DiAngelo deftly illuminates the phenomenon of white fragility and “allows us to understand racism as a practice not restricted to ‘bad people’ (Claudia Rankine). Referring to the defensive moves that white people make when challenged racially, white fragility is characterized by emotions such as anger, fear, and guilt, and by behaviors including argumentation and silence. These behaviors, in turn, function to reinstate white racial equilibrium and prevent any meaningful cross-racial dialogue. In this in-depth exploration, DiAngelo examines how white fragility develops, how it protects racial inequality, and what we can do to engage more constructively.

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A Long Way Gone

Ishmael Beah

My new friends have begun to suspect I haven't told them the full story of my life.
"Why did you leave Sierra Leone?"
"Because there is a war."
"You mean, you saw people running around with guns and shooting each other?"
"Yes, all the time."
"Cool."
I smile a little.
"You should tell us about it sometime."
"Yes, sometime."

This is how wars are fought now: by children, hopped-up on drugs and wielding AK-47s. Children have become soldiers of choice. In the more than fifty conflicts going on worldwide, it is estimated that there are some 300,000 child soldiers. Ishmael Beah used to be one of them.

What is war like through the eyes of a child soldier? How does one become a killer? How does one stop? Child soldiers have been profiled by journalists, and novelists have struggled to imagine their lives. But until now, there has not been a first-person account from someone who came through this hell and survived.

In A Long Way Gone, Beah, now twenty-five years old, tells a riveting story: how at the age of twelve, he fled attacking rebels and wandered a land rendered unrecognizable by violence. By thirteen, he'd been picked up by the government army, and Beah, at heart a gentle boy, found that he was capable of truly terrible acts. This is a rare and mesmerizing account, told with real literary force and heartbreaking honesty.

 

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Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea

Barbara Demick

In this landmark addition to the literature of totalitarianism, award-winning journalist Barbara Demick follows the lives of six North Korean citizens over fifteen years—a chaotic period that saw the death of Kim Il-sung, the rise to power of his son Kim Jong-il (the father of Kim Jong-un), and a devastating famine that killed one-fifth of the population.
 
Demick brings to life what it means to be living under the most repressive regime today—an Orwellian world that is by choice not connected to the Internet, where displays of affection are punished, informants are rewarded, and an offhand remark can send a person to the gulag for life. She takes us deep inside the country, beyond the reach of government censors, and through meticulous and sensitive reporting we see her subjects fall in love, raise families, nurture ambitions, and struggle for survival. One by one, we witness their profound, life-altering disillusionment with the government and their realization that, rather than providing them with lives of abundance, their country has betrayed them.

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Between the World and Me

Ta-Nehisi Coates

In a profound work that pivots from the biggest questions about American history and ideals to the most intimate concerns of a father for his son, Ta-Nehisi Coates offers a powerful new framework for understanding our nation’s history and current crisis. Americans have built an empire on the idea of “race,” a falsehood that damages us all but falls most heavily on the bodies of black women and men—bodies exploited through slavery and segregation, and, today, threatened, locked up, and murdered out of all proportion. What is it like to inhabit a black body and find a way to live within it? And how can we all honestly reckon with this fraught history and free ourselves from its burden?

Between the World and Me is Ta-Nehisi Coates’s attempt to answer these questions in a letter to his adolescent son. Coates shares with his son—and readers—the story of his awakening to the truth about his place in the world through a series of revelatory experiences, from Howard University to Civil War battlefields, from the South Side of Chicago to Paris, from his childhood home to the living rooms of mothers whose children’s lives were taken as American plunder. Beautifully woven from personal narrative, reimagined history, and fresh, emotionally charged reportage, Between the World and Me clearly illuminates the past, bracingly confronts our present, and offers a transcendent vision for a way forward.

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The New Jim Crow

Michelle Alexander

Seldom does a book have the impact of Michelle Alexander's The New Jim Crow. Since it was first published in 2010, it has been cited in judicial decisions and has been adopted in campus-wide and community-wide reads; it helped inspire the creation of the Marshall Project and the new $100 million Art for Justice Fund; it has been the winner of numerous prizes, including the prestigious NAACP Image Award; and it has spent nearly 250 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list.

Most important of all, it has spawned a whole generation of criminal justice reform activists and organizations motivated by Michelle Alexander's unforgettable argument that we have not ended racial caste in America; we have merely redesigned it. As the Birmingham News proclaimed, it is undoubtedly the most important book published in this century about the U.S.

 

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Just Mercy

Bryan Stevenson

Bryan Stevenson was a young lawyer when he founded the Equal Justice Initiative, a legal practice dedicated to defending those most desperate and in need: the poor, the wrongly condemned, and women and children trapped in the farthest reaches of our criminal justice system. One of his first cases was that of Walter McMillian, a young man who was sentenced to die for a notorious murder he insisted he didn’t commit. The case drew Bryan into a tangle of conspiracy, political machination, and legal brinksmanship—and transformed his understanding of mercy and justice forever.

Just Mercy is at once an unforgettable account of an idealistic, gifted young lawyer’s coming of age, a moving window into the lives of those he has defended, and an inspiring argument for compassion in the pursuit of true justice.

 

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Half the Sky

Nicholas D. Kristof

With Pulitzer Prize winners Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn as our guides, we undertake an odyssey through Africa and Asia to meet the extraordinary women struggling there, among them a Cambodian teenager sold into sex slavery and an Ethiopian woman who suffered devastating injuries in childbirth. Drawing on the breadth of their combined reporting experience, Kristof and WuDunn depict our world with anger, sadness, clarity, and, ultimately, hope.

They show how a little help can transform the lives of women and girls abroad. That Cambodian girl eventually escaped from her brothel and, with assistance from an aid group, built a thriving retail business that supports her family. The Ethiopian woman had her injuries repaired and in time became a surgeon. A Zimbabwean mother of five, counseled to return to school, earned her doctorate and became an expert on AIDS.

Through these stories, Kristof and WuDunn help us see that the key to economic progress lies in unleashing women’s potential. They make clear how so many people have helped to do just that, and how we can each do our part. Throughout much of the world, the greatest unexploited economic resource is the female half of the population. Countries such as China have prospered precisely because they emancipated women and brought them into the formal economy. Unleashing that process globally is not only the right thing to do; it’s also the best strategy for fighting poverty.

Deeply felt, pragmatic, and inspirational, Half the Sky is essential reading for every global citizen.

 

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I Am Malala

Malala Yousafzai

When the Taliban took control of the Swat Valley in Pakistan, one girl spoke out. Malala Yousafzai refused to be silenced and fought for her right to an education.

On Tuesday, October 9, 2012, when she was fifteen, she almost paid the ultimate price. She was shot in the head at point-blank range while riding the bus home from school, and few expected her to survive.

Instead, Malala's miraculous recovery has taken her on an extraordinary journey from a remote valley in northern Pakistan to the halls of the United Nations in New York. At sixteen, she has become a global symbol of peaceful protest and the youngest nominee ever for the Nobel Peace Prize.

I AM MALALA is the remarkable tale of a family uprooted by global terrorism, of the fight for girls' education, of a father who, himself a school owner, championed and encouraged his daughter to write and attend school, and of brave parents who have a fierce love for their daughter in a society that prizes sons.

I AM MALALA will make you believe in the power of one person's voice to inspire change in the world.

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Little Women

Writer-director Greta Gerwig has crafted a film that draws on both the classic novel and the writings of Louisa May Alcott and unfolds as the author’s alter ego, Jo March, reflects back and forth on her fictional life. In Gerwig’s take, the beloved story of the March sisters, four young women each determined to live life on her own terms, is both timeless and timely-

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Grumpy Old Men

Two elderly, eccentric, next-door neighbors sustain a rancorous relationship that only a wise observer could recognize as a very special friendship. When a lonely, flamboyant, middle-aged widow moves in across the street from them, the male rivalry begins.

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Nuncrackers

Emmy-winner Rue McClanahan reprises her role as Mother Superior, along with guest star John Ritter, in the latest episode of the Nunsense story.

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It's a Wonderful Life

George Bailey, a desperate and suicidal man, is visited by a guardian angel who shows him how important he has been to those around him in his life. A Christmas classic.

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Catch Me If You Can

Based on the autobiography of a brilliant young master of deception and the FBI agent hot on his trail. Frank W. Abagnale, Jr. passed himself off as a pilot, a lawyer, and a doctor all before his 21st birthday.

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Love the Coopers

It follows the Cooper clan as four generations of extended family come together for their annual Christmas Eve celebration. As the evening unfolds, a series of unexpected visitors and unlikely events turn the night upside down, leading them all toward a surprising rediscovery of family bonds and the spirit of the holiday.

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Daddy's Home Two

In the sequel to the 2015 global smash, Dusty and Brad have joined forces to provide their kids the perfect Christmas. Their newfound partnership is put to the test when Dusty's old-school, macho dad and Brad's ultra-affectionate and emotional dad arrive just in time to throw the holiday into complete chaos.

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Come Dance With Me

Jack tries to impress his boss, Drew, who is also the father of his girlfriend, Demi. Jack wants to propose to Demi at Drew's Christmas dance, but, while taking dance lessons, he starts falling for his instructor.

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Holiday Inn

Screen legends Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire sing and dance in one of the most timeless holiday classics of all time. Featuring the Academy Award-winning song, 'White Christmas', Crosby plays a song and dance man who leaves showbiz to run an inn that is open only on holidays. Astaire plays his former partner and rival in love. Follow the two talented pals as they find themselves competing for the affections of the same lovely lady.

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Just Friends

In school Chris was an overweight nerd and in love with his best friend Jamie, but she thought of him like a brother. Now a hot L.A. music exec, he returns to his hometown and falls in love with Jamie all over again. Can they be more than Just Friends?

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Silent Night

Follows a group of old friends who, in true British fashion and while the rest of the world faces impending doom, reunite to celebrate Christmas in the comfort of an idyllic country home. Burdened withthe inconvenience of mankind's imminent destruction, they adopt a stiff upper lip, crack open another bottle of prosecco and continue with their festivities. But no amount of stoicism can replace the courage needed for their last night on Earth.

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You've Got Mail

Two bookstore owners - a man who runs Manhattan's biggest super-chain, and a woman who has a tiny children's outlet - are natural enemies, but when they meet via e-mail they fall in love.

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Edward Scissorhands

Once upon a time in a castle high on a hill lived an inventor whose greatest creation was, Edward. Although Edward had an irresistible charm, he was not quite perfect. The inventor's sudden death left him unfinished, with sharp shears of metal for hands. Edward lived alone in the darkness until one day a kind Avon sales person took him home to live with her family. And so began Edward's fantastical adventures in a pastel paradise known as Suburbia.

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Love Actually

Love knows no boundaries and is causing chaos on Christmas Eve in London for everyone, from the new bachelor Prime Minister who found love at first sight to a schoolboy trying to get the attention of the most popular girl in school.

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Holiday 4-film collection

(The Christmas Consultant) A sought-after consultant brings in the merry after being hired by a workaholic mother. (Holiday Spin) A heartwarming story of a former dance champion and his estranged son. (The March Sisters At Christmas) A contemporary take on the timeless novel Little Women; as the legendary sisters fight to save their home and love, during the holidays. (Holly's Holiday) An advertising executive is oddly attracted to the handsome mannequin in the holiday window.

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Tiny Reindeer

Chris Naylor-Ballesteros

Tiny Reindeer is too small to pull Santa's sleigh. Will he figure out a way to prove his worth before Christmas day?

Santa and his reindeer are getting ready for Christmas, but Tiny Reindeer is too small to join in! Santa knows that a nudge in the right direction could change Tiny's life forever. When Tiny discovers a letter from a bereft little girl who is wishing for a tiny reindeer to match her grandfather's final gift, a hand-carved tiny sleigh, Tiny realizes that this might be his big chance. But will he have the courage to take a (literal) leap into the unknown? And what can Santa do to help?

This picture book is a sweet, funny and heartfelt look at being different and feeling too small to matter, and reassures readers that even the smallest gift -- whether it's a tiny reindeer or a seemingly small opportunity to help -- can bring lots of joy.

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Snow Day for Mouse

Judy Cox

On a snowy day, Mouse is swept outside where he plays in the snow, ice skates on a frozen puddle, and makes sure his friends the birds get something to eat.

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A Sled for Gabo

Emma Otheguy

The Snowy Day meets Last Stop on Market Street in this heartwarming classic in the making about a young boy who is in a new town and doesn’t have much, but with the help of a loving community discovers the joys of his first snowy day.

On the day it snows, Gabo sees kids tugging sleds up the hill, then coasting down, whooping all the while. Gabo wishes he could join them, but his hat is too small, and he doesn’t have boots or a sled.

But he does have warm and welcoming neighbors in his new town who help him solve the problem in the sweetest way possible!

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Snow Dog's Journey

Loretta Krupinski

One wintry day, two children build a dog out of snow, and they play with him and love him just as if he were real. That night, the icy Frost King spies the dog and decides to make him his own. Together, they travel far and wide, but in his heart Snow Dog knows that no one loves him like the children. So he sets out to find his way home.

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The Littlest Evergreen

Henry Cole

The littlest evergreen lived a quiet life on a peaceful hillside. Then one December evening, everything changed. . . .

Henry Cole’s The Littlest Evergreen sends a beautiful and timely message about nurturing life.

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Jack Frost

William Joyce

Before Jack Frost was Jack Frost, he was Nightlight, the most trusted and valiant companion of Mim, the Man in the Moon. But when Pitch destroys Mim’s world, he nearly destroys Nightlight too, sending him plunging to Earth where, like Peter Pan, he is destined to remain forever a boy, frozen in time. And while Nightlight has fun sailing icy winds and surfing clouds, he is also lonely without his friend Mim. To keep the cold in his heart from taking over, he spreads it to the landscapes around him and earns a new name: Jack Overland Frost.

But a true friend always comes through, and on one particularly bleak night, Mim shines down and shows Jack a group of children in great peril. Through helping them, Jack finds the warmth he’s been yearning for, and realizes bringing joy to others can melt his own chill. It is this realization—that there will always be children who need moments of bravery, who need rosy cheeks, who need to build snowmen, and who are then eager for a spring day—that makes Jack realize why he is a forever boy, and worthy of becoming a Guardian of Childhood.

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One-Dog Sleigh

Mary Casanova

I hitched up my pony to my little red sleigh. My dog pranced and danced. "I want to play!" "You bet," I said, "just me and you in a one-dog sleigh."

Harness bells jing-jing-jingle under branches frosted white, but is there enough room for everyone when squirrel, owl, lynx, and other forest animals ask to play?

On the ten-year anniversary of One-Dog Canoe, the author-illustrator team of Mary Casanova and Ard Hoyt have created a winter version of their popular picture book. Filled with lyrical text, bouncy rhythm, and whimsical illustrations, this is one heart-warming and adventurous sleigh ride you won't want to miss. Bundle up and climb aboard!

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Born to Read

Judy Sierra

THE AWARD-WINNING COLLABORATORS of the New York Times #1 picture book bestseller Wild About Books are back with a new story that promotes books and reading. Told in Judy Sierra's inimitable read-aloud rhyme, the narrative chronicles the amazing successes of Sam--thanks to his early love of books. The story ranges from Sam's infancy, when his mother reads him a picture book ("then another, then another, then another . . . such a perfect, patient mother"), to school age, when he cleverly uses some of his favorite books to rid his town of the rampaging baby giant, Grundaloon. "'Here's my secret,' Sam decreed. 'Readers win and winners read.'" Marc Brown's playful pictures joyously complement this fun-to-read, upbeat story.

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You Read to Me, I'll Read to You: very short fables to read together

Mary Ann Hoberman

Mary Ann Hoberman and Michael Emberley have added Aesop's fables to their bestselling and award-winning series! Rediscover familiar tales and find new favorites in this irresistible fifth YOU READ TO ME collaboration. These stories of classic characters-from wise ants and kind mice to sly foxes and hungry wolves-are fables as you've never seen them before!

With clear, color-coded typography and clever illustrations, this book "in two voices" uses traditional reading teaching techniques-alliteration, rhyme, and repetition-to invite young children to read along with peers or with an adult.

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Return of the Underwear Dragon

Scott Rothman

In this sequel to the hilarious picture book Attack of the Underwear Dragon, brave Sir Cole teaches his former sworn enemy to read.

Once Sir Cole has saved the kingdom from the destructive wrath of the Underwear Dragon, he has the startling realization that the Underwear Dragon wasn't attacking because he was disobeying the signs that said not to. The Underwear Dragon just couldn't read the signs!

Once again, Sir Cole sets out on a valiant quest. This time it isn't to conquer the Underwear Dragon--it's to help him learn how to read. But it's hard to teach a fire-breathing creature to read an actual book because he sets them all on fire. And when the Underwear Dragon finally succeeds, Sir Cole presents his star pupil with the perfect gift--gigantic alphabet underwear!

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Reading Beauty

Deborah Underwood

A repressible fairy tale retelling that is sure to charm readers of all ages: When a fairy's curse—a deathlike sleep via paper cut—threatens to make her kingdom barren of books, it's up to space princess Lex to break the spell and bring books back to her people. Set in the universe of the acclaimed Interstellar Cinderella, this empowering bedtime story for girls will entice young readers with its brave heroine, star-studded setting, and hilarious, heartwarming happy ending.

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The Book Hog

Greg Pizzoli

The Book Hog loves books-the way they look, the way they feel, the way they smell-and he'll grab whatever he can find. There's only one problem: he can't read! But when a kind librarian invites him to join for storytime, this literature-loving pig discovers the treasure that books really are.
Geisel Medalist Greg Pizzoli presents a new character who is sure to steal your heart in this picturebook full of humorous charm and vivid illustrations.

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Mousie, I Will Read to You

Rachael Cole

Long before the words make sense, Mousie,
I will read to you
The simplest story,
about an acorn that drops to the ground.

So begins this warm and poignant picture book that follows a mama mouse and her baby mouse on the little mouse's journey to becoming a reader--from infancy, to toddlerhood, to elementary school, and beyond. When Mousie is little, Mama sings him lullabies about the sky, repeats back his DA DA DEES and BA BA BEES, and reads him poems and stories about wonderful things like forests and bears. Then one day, on a playground next to the library, Mousie sounds out a word, then two, then three . . . and a reader is born!

Inspired by the American Academy of Pediatrics recommendation to read aloud to your children from the day they are born, here is a charming picture book that celebrates families reading together.

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This Book Will Not Be Fun

Cirocco Dunlap

A mouse who acts as a careful custodian of his book tries to guarantee his reader some peace and order in spite of escalating chaos. For fans of The Book With No Pictures and This Book Just Ate My Dog!

A book is no place for tomfoolery, and this mouse assures us that his book is to be no exception. Just please ignore that Word-Eating Flying Whale, and—oh, no, the lights have gone out. Wait, what is THAT?! Nothing to fear. Everything is under control. . . .

Readers will delight as this charming yet uptight mouse is challenged and subverted by gloriously imaginative creatures that are like nothing you’ve ever seen. Will our little mouse succumb to the attractiveness of their overwhelming exuberance?

Newcomer Cirocco Dunlap delivers an on-point debut picture-book text that dances outside the boundaries of its pages. Olivier Tallec breathes extra lunacy into this nutty little world with his absurdist palette and amusing forms.

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Please Don't Read This Book

Deanna Kizis

In this laugh-out-loud book that begs readers to break the rules, silliness and hilarity reign supreme!

Wait--are you reading this book? Even though the cover asked you not to?

Well, if you're going to read it, then you'll have to follow the rules, or you're going to have WAY too much fun. And you don't want to have FUN, do you? DO YOU?!

That's what I thought. So definitely, positively, DO NOT read this book!

Join along for zany antics, silly sounds, and endless fun in this breaks-the-fourth-wall book that will have readers coming back time and time again--regardless of what the title says.

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This Book Is Not for You!

Shannon Hale

From New York Times bestselling and Newbery Honor–winning author Shannon Hale and award-winning illustrator Tracy Subisak, comes a zany picture book that pokes fun at overly gendered notions of "boy books" and "girl books" and celebrates the pleasure of a good book.

Stanley’s thrilled for bookmobile day—until the old man at the window refuses to lend him the story he wants, all because it features a girl. “Girl books” are only for girls, the book man insists, just like cat books are only for cats and robot books are only for robots. But when a dinosaur arrives at the bookmobile and successfully demands a book about ponies, Stanley musters the courage to ask for the tale he really wants—about a girl adventurer fighting pirates on the open seas. By speaking up, Stanley inspires the people, cats, robots, and goats around him to read more stories outside their experiences and enjoy the pleasure of a good book of their choosing.

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Shhh! The Baby's Asleep

JaNay Brown-Wood

Celebrate the silliness that comes with a big family in this playful read aloud about a big brother, a sleeping baby, and a very noisy family.

Baby is finally asleep. But everyone is much too loud! Can Mom, Daddy, Grammy, Pop Pop, Shae, Dante, Rover the dog, and even the neighbor keep quiet? Just when they think they can rest—oh no. The baby's awake. One savvy little narrator knows just the way to make his baby sister fall back asleep: by reading her a good book!

A hilarious cast of characters will keep readers laughing throughout this amusing celebration of early literacy and intergenerational family relationships.

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Dear Reader

Tiffany Rose

In this book a young girl pens a love letter to libraries and books, and powerfully expresses the need for diversity and the importance of representation in stories!

There was just this one thing, this nagging suspicion, that I didn't meet the criteria for a heroine's condition.

In the books that I read, an absence of melanin was a clear omission.

A voracious young reader loves nothing more than going to the library and poring through books all day, making friends with characters and going off on exciting adventures with them. However, the more she reads, the more she notices that most of the books don't have characters that look like her, and the only ones that do tell about the most painful parts of their history. Where are the heroines with Afros exploring other planets and the superheroes with 'locs saving the day?

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Time for Bed, Old House

Janet Costa Bates

At Isaac’s first sleepover, he gets to help Grandpop with a very special routine—putting the house to bed—in a story that’s just right for children visiting a new place, or for adopting a new ritual at home.

Isaac is excited about having a sleepover at Grandpop’s house, but he’s a little nervous about being away from home for the first time. Luckily, his knowing Grandpop tells him it’s not quite time to go to bed yet—first, he needs Isaac’s help in putting the house to bed. Quietly and slowly, they move from room to room, turning out lights and pulling down shades, as Grandpop gently explains the nighttime sounds that Isaac finds unfamiliar. Now it’s time to read the house a bedtime story (Isaac is good at reading the pictures). By the time the house is settled in for the night, Isaac and Grandpop are ready for bed, too. Janet Costa Bates’s tender story and A. G. Ford’s cozy illustrations will have families—and extended families or friends—eager to take a wise Grandpop’s cue and embrace a new nighttime tradition.

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This Is Not That Kind of Book

Christopher Healy

This is a book that answers all the kids who have ever posed the question What kind of book is it?

This clever alphabet book... Wait, that's not right. This original fairy tale... Nope. Mystery? Joke book? Superhero story? Pirate adventure? This delightful mash-up features every kind of character found in the picture-book universe--all in one book. Just when the reader is convinced the story is going in one direction, it spins off in another.

Ever-changing illustrations keep pace with the rapid reversals, and the setting shifts with nearly every turn of the page. Truly inventive, here's a picture book that can be anything you want it to be!

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Just One More!

Tracey Corderoy

"Just one more!" Little Brown Bunny insists every night at bedtime, hoping someone will read him just one more book. When there are no more stories left to read, Bunny spends all day creating a bedtime book that is so super-super long that it will last all night.
#1 New York Times bestselling illustrator Alison Edgson brings Little Brown Bunny's world to life with tender illustrations. The perfect bedtime story for a child reluctant to put down a book and go to sleep.

 

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Building Books

Megan Wagner Lloyd

Katie loves to build. She loves the way the blocks click together, the way they crash when they topple to the floor. But most of all, she loves to build something brand-new. Unlike her brother, she hates reading.

Owen loves to read. He loves the way the pages rustle when he turns them, the way the paper smells. But most of all, he loves to read something brand-new. But, unlike his sister, he has no interest in building.

When their rivalry finally comes to a head, a librarian suggests a solution. Books for Katie to read and books for Owen to shelve. Can they learn to appreciate their siblings hobbies and build something together?

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Lola Reads to Leo

Anna McQuinn

Join Lola as she learns what it means to be a big sister, in the third installment in the loveable Lola series. We all know how much Lola loves books, so it is no surprise that she can’t wait to share her love of reading with her new baby brother, Leo. Lola gets ready for little Leo’s arrival by reading books about brothers and sisters and picking out the perfect stories that she just knows her little brother will love. When the baby is finally here, Lola takes on the role of big sister—she helps her mommy and daddy around the house and tells Leo stories to cheer him up when he cries. Simple text and bright and charming illustrations celebrate family, reading, and what it means to be a big sister.

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Bunny's Book Club

Annie Silvestro

Join Bunny as he takes a a top-secret trip to the library in a story that celebrates the love of reading!
 
Bunny loves to sit outside the library with the kids and listen to summer story time. But when the weather gets cold and everyone moves inside, his daily dose of joy is gone. Desperate, Bunny refuses to miss out on any more reading time and devises a plan to sneak into the library at night . . . through the library’s book drop!
 
What follows is an adorable caper that brings an inquisitive, fuzzy bunny and his woodland pals up close and personal with the books they have grown to love. A warm celebration of the power of books, Bunny’s Book Club is sure to bring knowing smiles to any child, parent, teacher, bookseller, and librarian who understands the one-of-a-kind magic of reading.

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No Buddy Like a Book

Allan Wolf

Calling readers and daydreamers, word mavens and lovers of adventure! This celebration of the power of books is a rallying cry for letting imaginations soar.

Have you ever wanted to climb to the top of Everest with one hand behind your back? Kiss a crocodile all by yourself on the Nile River? How about learning how to bottle moonlight, or track a distant star? There are endless things to discover and whole universes to explore simply by reading a book. But books are only smears of ink without the reader's mind to give their letters meaning and bring them to life. With a rollicking, rhyming text and delightful artwork, poet and storyteller Allan Wolf and illustrator Brianne Farley remind us that books, no matter how they may be consumed, give readers of every background an opportunity to expand their world and spark their imagination. With infectious enthusiasm, No Buddy Like a Book offers an ode to the wonders of language--written, spoken, and everything in between.

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The Startup Wife

Tahmima Anam

Meet Asha Ray. Brilliant coder and possessor of a Pi tattoo, Asha is poised to make a scientific breakthrough when she is reunited with her high school crush, Cyrus Jones.

Before she knows it, Asha has abandoned her lab, exchanged vows with Cyrus, and gone to work at an exclusive tech incubator called Utopia to develop an app called WAI—“We are Infinite.”

WAI creates a sensation, with millions of users logging on every day. Will Cyrus and Asha’s marriage survive the pressures of sudden fame, or will she become overshadowed by the man everyone is calling the new messiah?

This “scathing—and hilarious—take on startup culture, marriage and workaholism” (Politico) explores whether or not technology—with all its limits and possibilities—can disrupt modern love.

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The Founder's Dilemmas

Noam Wasserman

Often downplayed in the excitement of starting up a new business venture is one of the most important decisions entrepreneurs will face: should they go it alone, or bring in cofounders, hires, and investors to help build the business? More than just financial rewards are at stake. Friendships and relationships can suffer. Bad decisions at the inception of a promising venture lay the foundations for its eventual ruin. The Founder's Dilemmas is the first book to examine the early decisions by entrepreneurs that can make or break a startup and its team.

Drawing on a decade of research, Noam Wasserman reveals the common pitfalls founders face and how to avoid them. He looks at whether it is a good idea to cofound with friends or relatives, how and when to split the equity within the founding team, and how to recognize when a successful founder-CEO should exit or be fired. Wasserman explains how to anticipate, avoid, or recover from disastrous mistakes that can splinter a founding team, strip founders of control, and leave founders without a financial payoff for their hard work and innovative ideas. He highlights the need at each step to strike a careful balance between controlling the startup and attracting the best resources to grow it, and demonstrates why the easy short-term choice is often the most perilous in the long term.

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