Introducing an innovative new book packed with fun, weird, crazy and perplexing activities! The book is filled with interactive activities and challenges. Transform the page into a mini soccer pitch and score three goals, or lay the book on the floor and drop pens until you've scored a bull's-eye! Some challenges are a cinch while others require practice and skill - but all are guaranteed to make you want to beat the book! Kids will love using the awesome silicone cover and movable silicone pieces to complete challenges or get creative with their own ideas! Do you think you can Beat This Book?

From the Grammy-nominated singer, drummer, and percussionist who is world renowned for her contributions throughout the music industry, a moving memoir about the healing power of music and spiritual growth inspired by five decades of life and love on the stage. She was born Sheila Escovedo in 1957, but the world knows her as Sheila E. She first picked up the drumsticks and started making music at the precocious age of three, taught by her legendary father, percussionist Pete Escovedo. As the goddaughter of Tito Puente, music was the heartbeat of her family, and despite Sheila's impoverished childhood in Oakland, California, her family stayed strong, inspired by the music they played nightly in their living room. When she was only five, Sheila delivered her first solo performance to a live audience. By nineteen, she had fallen in love with Carlos Santana. By twenty-one, she met Prince at one of her concerts. Sheila E. and Prince would eventually join forces and collaborate for more than two decades, creating hits that catapulted Sheila to her own pop superstardom. The Beat of My Own Drum is both a walk through four decades of Latin and pop music—from her tours with Marvin Gaye, Lionel Richie, Prince, and Ringo Starr to her own solo career. At the same time, it’s also a heartbreaking, ultimately redemptive look at how the sanctity of music can save a person’s life. Having repeatedly endured sexual abuse as a child, Sheila credits her parents, music, and God with giving her the will to carry on and to build a lasting legacy. Rich in musical detail, pop, and Latin music history, this is a fascinating walk through some of the biggest moments in music from the ’70s and ’80s. But as Sheila’s personal story, this memoir is a unique glimpse into a world-famous drummer’s singular life—a treat for both new and longtime fans of Sheila E. And above all, The Beat of My Own Drum is a testament to how the positive power of music has fueled Sheila’s heart and soul—and how it can transform your life as well.

In the wake of the horrific 9/11 terrorist attacks we, as an increasingly secular nation, were reminded that religion is, for good and bad, still significant in the modern world. Alongside this new awareness, religion reporters adopted the tools of so-called New Journalists, reporters of the 1960s and '70s like Truman Capote and Joan Didion who inserted themselves into the stories they covered while borrowing the narrative tool kit of fiction to avail themselves of a deeper truth. At the turn of the millennium, this personal, subjective, voice-driven New Religion Journalism was employed by young writers, willing to scrutinize questions of faith and doubt while taking God-talk seriously. Articles emerged from such journalists as Kelly Baker, Ann Neumann, Patrick Blanchfield, Jeff Kripal, and Meghan O'Gieblyn, characterized by their brash, innovative, daring, and stylistically sophisticated writing and an unprecedented willingness to detail their own interaction with faith (or their lack thereof). The God Beat brings together some of the finest and most representative samples of this emerging genre. By curating and presenting them as part of a meaningful trend, this compellingly edited collection helps us understand how we talk about God in public spaces--and why it matters--in a whole new way.

An anthology of the best of the beats edited by Anne Waldman (who should know) and containing a chronology of the movement from Kerouac to Snyder. The emphasis is on the the poetry and prose excerpts; However, the volume includes brief biographical sketches, an introduction by Ginsberg, a recommended beat vacation guide of the places where the gang passed out or recovered, and more scholarly references. The writers selected for inclusion represent the core of beat: Corso, Kerouac, Ginsberg, Orlovsky, di Prima, Burroughs, Baraka, Ferlinghetti, Kyger, Kandel, Kaufman, Whalen, McClure, and Snyder. Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

(Music Express Books). Do you hear that beat? It's the sound of people entering the theater on the most famous street in the world. It's the sound of dancing feet and orchestras tuning up. It's the sound dreams are made of. It's the sound of Broadway! Celebrate musical theatre with hits from Hairspray , The Music Man , The King and I , Wicked , Rent and Grease , and a medley of favorites from George M. Cohan! This unique musical collection for upper elementary and middle school students features seven kid-friendly arrangements for unison voices, piano accompaniments, and fun facts about Broadway by John Jacobson. Extend learning further with a Broadway timeline, board game, and recorded history with music excerpts spanning over a century of song and dance. It's the beat of Broadway and nobody can stop it! Available separately: Teacher Edition, Singer Edition 20-Pak (full color), Performance/Accompaniment CD, Classroom Kit (teacher, Singer 20-Pak, P/A CD). Duration: ca. 25 minutes. Suggested for grades 4-8.

Sometimes the best man isn't even in the wedding party... Gavin Greene is a hopeless romantic. He's also a professional one: he writes the wedding column for a Pulitzer Prize-winning newspaper, covering spectacular parties from coast to coast. But there's a thin line between being a hotshot reporter on assignment...and being a single guy alone on a Saturday night at someone else's wedding. Everything changes on New Year's when Gavin meets Melinda, a travel writer with enchanting dimples. A moonlit stroll across a Manhattan rooftop seals the deal. Until an Aussie with attitude swoops in and whisks her away before Gavin gets her number. Gavin crisscrosses New York City to find her again. And he learns that there's something worse than losing the woman of his dreams: Having to write an article about her wedding.

“World Champion” Judah Friedlandertells you How to Beat Up Anybody in this insanely hilarious satirical martial arts guide. Better known as an award-winning stand-up comic, actor, and star of 30 Rock, Friedlander shares his adventures in butt-kicking with lucky readers in a self-defense handbook in the gut-busting vein of The Truth About Chuck Norris.

The definitive biography of Michael Jackson, a “vivid…gripping...authoritative account of a world-changing force of nature” (Rolling Stone), celebrating the King of Pop’s legendary contributions to music, dance, and popular culture. From the moment in 1965 when he first stepped on stage—at age seven—in Gary, Indiana, Michael Jackson was destined to become the undisputed King of Pop. In a career spanning four decades, Jackson became a global icon, selling over four hundred million albums, earning thirteen Grammy awards, and spinning dance moves that captivated the world. Songs like “Billie Jean” and “Black and White” altered our national discussion of race and equality, and Jackson’s signature aesthetic, from the single white glove to the moonwalk, defined a generation. Despite publicized scandals and controversy, Jackson’s ultimate legacy will always be his music. In an account that “reminds us why Michael Jackson was, indeed, a ‘genius’ entertainer” (New York Newsday), Rolling Stone contributing editor Steve Knopper delves deeply into Jackson’s music and talent. From the artist’s early days with the Jackson 5, to his stratospheric success as a solo artist, to “Beat It” and “Thriller,” “Bad” and “The Man in the Mirror,” to his volatile final years, his attempted comeback, and untimely death, Knopper draws on his “critical and reportorial savvy in assessing Jackson’s creative peaks and valleys,” (USA TODAY) exploring the beguiling and often contradictory forces that fueled Michael Jackson’s genius. Drawing on an amazing four hundred interviews—ranging from Jackson’s relatives, friends, and key record executives to celebrities like will.i.am and Weird Al Yankovic—this critical biography puts his career into perspective and celebrates his triumph in art and music. This is “a thoughtful look at an artist who grew up in a segregated mill town and who, for the rest of his life, made music to bring down walls” (Chicago Tribune).

The perfect mix of music, creativity, and fun for music teachers, classroom teachers, and childcare providers. Students will enjoy learning about the jungle and its creatures through captivating songs and activities. Includes many imaginative lesson ideas for young children that capture the delightful power and excitement of interactive musical learning. Classroom curriculum, singing and playing instruments, crafts, and snacks are integrated, overlapped, and joined for a joyful, inventive learning experience. This title has received the iParenting Media award as one of the Best Products of 2006." "