A Study Guide for Horacio Quiroga's "The Feather Pillow," excerpted from Gale's acclaimed Short Stories for Students. This concise study guide includes plot summary; character analysis; author biography; study questions; historical context; suggestions for further reading; and much more. For any literature project, trust Short Stories for Students for all of your research needs.

A combined volume of the two short stories, The Feather Pillow and The Permanent Stiletto.

Tales of horror, madness, and death, tales of fantasy and morality: these are the works of South American master storyteller Horacio Quiroga. Author of some 200 pieces of fiction that have been compared to the works of Poe, Kipling, and Jack London, Quiroga experienced a life that surpassed in morbidity and horror many of the inventions of his fevered mind. As a young man, he suffered his father's accidental death and the suicide of his beloved stepfather. As a teenager, he shot and accidentally killed one of his closest friends. Seemingly cursed in love, he lost his first wife to suicide by poison. In the end, Quiroga himself downed cyanide to end his own life when he learned he was suffering from an incurable cancer. In life Quiroga was obsessed with death, a legacy of the violence he had experienced. His stories are infused with death, too, but they span a wide range of short fiction genres: jungle tale, Gothic horror story, morality tale, psychological study. Many of his stories are set in the steaming jungle of the Misiones district of northern Argentina, where he spent much of his life, but his tales possess a universality that elevates them far above the work of a regional writer. The first representative collection of his work in English, The Decapitated Chicken and Other Stories provides a valuable overview of the scope of Quiroga's fiction and the versatility and skill that have made him a classic Latin American writer.

Jan Brett's bestselling snowy "Goldilocks" retelling is now available in this popular large, durable format. Painted in her signature style, the familiar story and depiction of playful Arctic animals and birds dressed in colorful Inuit costumes make this classic tale a perfect choice for Jan’s youngest fans.

A modern fable about some peacocks and swans who allow the fear of their differences to become so great that they end up destroying each other.

In the year 1912, nineteen-year-old Christy Huddleston leaves home to teach school in the Smoky Mountains -- and comes to know and love the resilient people of the region, with their fierce pride, their dark superstitions, their terrible poverty, and their yearning for beauty and truth. But her faith will be severely challenged by trial and tragedy, by the needs and unique strengths of two remarkable young men, and by a heart torn between true love and unwavering devotion. And don't miss another heart-soaring bestseller from Catherine Marshall: Julie

A boy learns a lesson about the destructive power of gossip.

Motor skills, brain development and finesse Print writing and cursive writing both require very different skill sets. Cursive uses the hand muscles in a different way. Moreover, it activates a different part of the brain which regular writing does not use. Analysis shows that learning to use cursive writing advances students' motor and visual skills. Exercising cursive handwriting augments and develops dexterity in our fingers and hands. These skills are the ones which are required of a dentist, artist, surgeon, and computer technicians. Cursive also promotes our hand-eye coordination and the linkage between our brain and hand. Even more remarkable is the fact that learning to use cursive writing productively affects mind development. Research also indicates that the kids who learn cursive in addition to manuscript writing have higher grades on both spelling/writing and reading exams, conceivably because the linked-up style of cursive writing compels writers to think of words as wholes rather than parts. Students with learning difficulties Students with learning difficulties e.g., dyslexia, may have a hard time with print writing since many of the letters are similar in appearance, especially b and d. On the other hand, cursive letters look very different from their print counterparts. This gives dyslexic students another choice, which can reduce their dyslexic impulses and make them more confident in their capabilities. Cognitive skills and natural flow The flow of cursive writing comes much more naturally to children as compared to print writing and engages greater cognitive skills. This cognitive development helps students reason, problem solve, conceptualize and make decisions as they get older. Cursive writing progresses fine motor skills such as coordination, development of muscles and hand-eye synchronization. Additionally, cursive writing's letter strokes aid in the eyes' left-to-right reading motion. Cursive is also productive for note-taking because a word in cursive is one entire block, instead of a stop-and-start series of strokes. This productive and efficient way of taking notes assists students in grasping information greater than typing. The phrase we all have been using, "Write it down or you'll forget it," is very true. Scientific studies on Neuropsychology suggest that the act of listening and handwriting links the verbal and spatial processing regions of the brain, strengthening memory. The overall excellence of syntax and writing is improved by this ability to reconstruct thought, ideas and lectures into written words, contrasted to those who type.

Webpage containing full text of the poem when we two parted/ by George Gordon Byron, Lord Byron.