This text examines a series of pervasive themes of human existence and the challenges of being and relating. Areas investigated include: the nature and meaning of being different; possessiveness and being possessed; and dimensions of loneliness, mystery and self-disclosure.

16-year-old Robert lies anaesthetized. A routine operation has just gone wrong. As Robert slowly wakes, he can hear, he can feel, but he can't scream. The operation isn't over. But life, as Robert knows it, is. He goes on the run, terrified and desperate for answers.

Starred reviews from Publishers Weekly and Booklist * YALSA Top Ten Quick Pick for Reluctant Readers * ALA Best Fiction for Young Adults List * 2017 Rainbow A sharply honest and moving debut perfect for fans of The Perks of Being a Wallflower and Ask the Passengers. Riley Cavanaugh is many things: Punk rock. Snarky. Rebellious. And gender fluid. Some days Riley identifies as a boy, and others as a girl. But Riley isn't exactly out yet. And between starting a new school and having a congressman father running for reelection in über-conservative Orange County, the pressure—media and otherwise—is building up in Riley's life. On the advice of a therapist, Riley starts an anonymous blog to vent those pent-up feelings and tell the truth of what it's really like to be a gender fluid teenager. But just as Riley's starting to settle in at school—even developing feelings for a mysterious outcast—the blog goes viral, and an unnamed commenter discovers Riley's real identity, threatening exposure. And Riley must make a choice: walk away from what the blog has created—a lifeline, new friends, a cause to believe in—or stand up, come out, and risk everything. From debut author Jeff Garvin comes a powerful and uplifting portrait of a modern teen struggling with high school, relationships, and what it means to be a person.

Frank follows the motto, "Honesty is the best policy." He tells the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Frank never lies to his schoolmates, he always tells the truth to adults, and he's always honest with police officers. The balancing act of finding tact, that fine line between telling the truth and telling too much truth, is the main theme of this story, and it's very funny—although not necessarily to his friend Dotti whose freckles remind Frank of the Big Dipper, or to the teacher who hears that her breath smells like onions, or to the principal who is told that his toupee looks like a weasel. No one is quite as impressed with Frank's honesty as he thinks they should be. He is sweet and straightforward, and, well, very frank, but with everyone annoyed at him, Frank is now honestly unhappy. He decides to visit his confidante and pal, Grandpa Ernest, who has a history of frankness himself. With a few lessons from Grandpa, Frank begins to understand that the truth is important, but so is not being hurtful. With amusing characters and expressive artwork, this story tells the powerful message of finding the good in everything—a lesson that sends compassion and understanding to take the place of rudeness in the complex concept of truth.

Being Human Being express the power in ending the language of race entirely, bringing forth a new era in which the term "human", robust and newly re-envisioned, eradicates the need for the illusion of categorical racial boundaries.

Being in Being contains three masterpieces by legendary Haida mythteller Skaay of the Qquuna Qiighawaay. The shortest recounts the high points of the legend of his family. The longest, Raven Travelling, is the most complex version of the story of the Raven ever recorded on the Northwest Coast. The third is The Qquuna Cycle, the largest and most complex literary work in any Native Canadian language. It is a poem of epic length and one of the true masterpieces of North American literature.

According to Thomas Metzinger, no such things as selves exist in the world: nobody ever had or was a self. All that exists are phenomenal selves, as they appear in conscious experience. The phenomenal self, however, is not a thing but an ongoing process; it is the content of a "transparent self-model." In Being No One, Metzinger, a German philosopher, draws strongly on neuroscientific research to present a representationalist and functional analysis of what a consciously experienced first-person perspective actually is. Building a bridge between the humanities and the empirical sciences of the mind, he develops new conceptual toolkits and metaphors; uses case studies of unusual states of mind such as agnosia, neglect, blindsight, and hallucinations; and offers new sets of multilevel constraints for the concept of consciousness. Metzinger's central question is: How exactly does strong, consciously experienced subjectivity emerge out of objective events in the natural world? His epistemic goal is to determine whether conscious experience, in particular the experience of being someone that results from the emergence of a phenomenal self, can be analyzed on subpersonal levels of description. He also asks if and how our Cartesian intuitions that subjective experiences as such can never be reductively explained are themselves ultimately rooted in the deeper representational structure of our conscious minds.

A New York Times bestseller for 14 weeks in 1978, Running & Being became known as the philosophical bible for runners around the world. More than thirty years after its initial publication, it remains every bit as relevant today. Written by the late, beloved Dr. George Sheehan, Running & Being tells of the author's midlife return to the world of exercise, play and competition, in which he found "a world beyond sweat" that proved to be a source of great revelation and personal growth. But Running & Being focuses more on life than it does, specifically, on running. It provides an outline for a lifetime program of fitness and joy, showing how the body helps determine our mental and spiritual energies. Drawing from the words and actions of the great athletes and thinkers throughout history, Sheehan ties it all together with his own philosophy on the importance of fitness and sport, as well as his knowledge of training, injury prevention, and race competition. Above all, Sheehan describes what it means to experience the oneness of body and mind, of self and the universe. In this, Sheehan argues, we have the power to discover "the truth that makes men free."

Anna Quindlen offers deep truths from her life to motivate and inspire you to become your most authentic self. “Trying to be perfect may be inevitable for people who are smart and ambitious and interested in the world and its good opinion. . . . What is really hard, and really amazing, is giving up on being perfect and beginning the work of becoming yourself.” In Being Perfect, Anna Quindlen shares wisdom that, perhaps without knowing it, you have longed to hear: about “the perfection trap,” the price you pay when you become ensnared in it, and the key to setting yourself free. Quindlen believes that when your success looks good to the world but doesn’t feel good in your heart, it isn’t success at all. She asks you to set aside your friends’ advice, what your family and co-workers demand, and what society expects, and look at the choices you make every day. When you ask yourself why you are making them, Quindlen encourages you to give this answer: For me. “Because they are what I want, or wish for. Because they reflect who and what I am. . . . That way lies dancing to the melodies spun out by your own heart.” At the core of this beautiful book lies the secret of authentic success, the inspiration to embrace your own uniqueness and live the life that is undeniably your own, rich in fulfillment and meaning.

Empower children to recognize their individual worth and develop confidence in themselves, their abilities, and the choices they make. Children learn that they can speak up, expect and show respect, try new things, and believe in themselves. Confidence-building skills of accepting yourself, asking for what you need, making decisions, solving problems, and communicating are also discussed. Young children will respond to the true-to-life situations and colorful illustrations. Being the Best Me Series: From the author of the popular Learning to Get Along® books come the first two books in this one-of-a-kind character-development series. Each book focuses on specific attitude or character traits—such as optimism, courage, resilience, imagination, personal power, decision-making, and work ethics. Also included are discussion questions, games, activities, and additional information adults can use to reinforce the concepts children are learning. Filled with diversity, these read-aloud books will be welcome in school, home, and childcare settings.