The sound of the basketball slapping the floor echoed hollowly in the gym, as I began working it playfully with my hands. Planning my next move, I locked eyes with my opponent. I noticed small beads of sweat beginning to form in the furrow between his eyebrows. My heart was pounding, and my nerves tightened in response . . . but slowly a smile formed on my lips. Here I was, 5"8 Jesse LeBeau, going one on one with basketball superstar Kevin Durant . . . and I was making him sweat! As I started to make my move on him, I briefly wondered, "How did a skinny kid from a small town in Alaska ever get the chance to do this?" Here I was, involved in the filming of the 2012 Warner Brother's basketball movie Thunderstruck, playing against the NBA scoring champion! It shouldn't have happened. I didn't fit the profile and anyone would have told you that. But I did make it, despite the odds. And here is my story . . . Growing up as an undersized white basketball player on a remote island in Alaska, Jesse had nearly every chip stacked against him. Yet despite his size and circumstances, he managed to rise above it all and make it to the big screen in Hollywood. With only the love of the game of basketball and the tenacity to follow a dream driving him, Jesse's persistence has led him to star in national commercials and movies with some of the most recognizable celebrities and professional athletes in the world. More importantly, he found a way to tweak the system and alter his dream and get paid to do what he loves to . . . every day! Be inspired by his story and learn the keys to successfully creating a life that is uniquely yours.

This funny, exuberant novel captures the reader with the grand sweep of seven-foot-tall David “Lizard” Hochmeyer’s larger-than-life quest to unravel the mystery surrounding his parents’ deaths. It’s a journey laden with pro football stars, a master chef and his beautiful transvestite lover, a world-famous ballerina and her English rocker husband, and a sister who’s as brilliant as she is unstable. A wildly entertaining, plot-twisting novel of murder, seduction, and revenge—rich in incident, expansive in character, and lavish in setting—Life Among Giants is an exhilarating adventure. Editors’ pick for Amazon’s Best of 2012 Shelf Awareness Top Ten Best Fiction of 2012 Columbus Dispatch’s Top Books of 2012

If you browse through the greatest recordings in history, you will find one name appearing again and again-Bobby Wood. Bobby has left his mark on this world one lick at a time. His ability to create memorable hooks of soul and simplicity explains his success in all music genres. Every artist loves Bobby for his diversity, not only for his style, but also for his diversity in instruments. Walking Among Giants is the story of a man who never gave up in spite of discouragement and tragedy. It is the true story of a man who not only believes in miracles, but who has lived them. It is moving, often heart wrenching, but always inspiring. It is the story of a man who is living the American dream in the world of music and the story of a man of unbending faith. Bobby Wood is also one of the most talented songwriters and producers in the industry, and, according to music legend Garth Brooks, he may very well be the most successful musician to grace the music business for the last five decades. But Bobby himself will tell you he did not do it alone. First, and foremost, he is a man of great character and faith. It is his faith in God that has underpinned his life and work, and continues to do so.

A portrait of the first woman archaeologist to work in Polynesia documents Routledge's experiences on Easter Island, beginning with the launch of the 1913 Mana Expedition and continuing with her emersion into local customs and beliefs and battle with schizophrenia.

Motivational guru John C. Maxwell finds inspiration and encouragement in the lives of Old Testament personalities.

Relates the history of the Princelet Street Synagogue, East London and the life of its longest-serving rabbi. The conditions in both England and Poland leading up to the mass migration of Jews from the Russian Empire to England in the last part of the 19th century are described. The book is completed by a collection of photographs and a glossary of Hebrew/Yiddish terms.

Ken Follett’s magnificent historical epic begins as five interrelated families move through the momentous dramas of the First World War, the Russian Revolution, and the struggle for women’s suffrage. A thirteen-year-old Welsh boy enters a man’s world in the mining pits. . . . An American law student rejected in love finds a surprising new career in Woodrow Wilson’s White House. . . . A housekeeper for the aristocratic Fitzherberts takes a fateful step above her station, while Lady Maud Fitzherbert herself crosses deep into forbidden territory when she falls in love with a German spy. . . . And two orphaned Russian brothers embark on radically different paths when their plan to emigrate to America falls afoul of war, conscription, and revolution. From the dirt and danger of a coal mine to the glittering chandeliers of a palace, from the corridors of power to the bedrooms of the mighty, Fall of Giants takes us into the inextricably entangled fates of five families—and into a century that we thought we knew, but that now will never seem the same again. . . .

The rise of a new queen has shattered the ancient peace of the Ice Spires, and the only thing left standing between Hartsvale and the giant tribes bent on her destruction is a lone scout armed with a single golden arrow. And now that sanctuary is about to end. The queen is trapped in a remote citadel, surrounded by giants, and the scout who would save her must now leave and undertake a harrowing journey to summon help. Only, as the scout soon learns, the greatest danger to the queen is posed not from without, but from within.

How do children from undereducated and impoverished backgrounds get to college? What are the influences that lead them to overcome their socioeconomic disadvantages and sometimes the disapproval of families and friends to succeed in college? These are the basic questions Sandria Rodriguez posed to seventeen first-generation college graduates, and their compelling life stories make important contributions to what little is known about this phenomenon. The daughter of parents who didn't finish elementary school, Rodriguez uses many examples from her own life in the course of examining the participants' experiences before, during, and after college that directed them toward social or educational activism. Together, the seventeen represent a wide range of diversity in terms of race, ethnicity, age, geographical area of childhood, and profession. Twelve of the seventeen hold advanced degrees, all are working professionals, and all come from families who were poor. Jerry, the son of German immigrants, owns an engineering company in Chicago; Chang, a native of China, is the first from his village to go to college; Grant, a sharecropper's son, is a lawyer with a nationally prominent law firm in Washington, D.C., and patron of fine arts; Arlene, a Mohawk Indian, is a storyteller and social activist; Alex, from Spanish Harlem, is an elementary school principal. The book is divided into four parts. In the first two chapters, we meet the participants. In the three chapters that follow, Rodriguez examines how the participants as children perceived themselves within their families, schools, and communities. Chapters four and five focus on the campus life and the participants' activist experiences. Finally, chapter six offers recommendations for mentoring disadvantaged children, so that they can successfully "switch the track" and aim for something better. Giants Among Us is an essential resource for college administrators, faculty, counselors, and student support-services staff--as well as K-12 educators--concerned with preparing, retaining and mentoring first-generation students.