The kid approached Kilmartin directly. 'You—you Jeff K-K-Kilmartin?' the kid stammered. The kid's knowing his name caught Kilmartin off guard. However, recovering quickly, Kilmartin stopped and, trying to act cool, slowly put a hand up in order to lean against the wall. 'Who wants to know?' Kilmartin asked matter-of-factly. 'l-L-Look,' the kid stammered again, a bright red splotch of color beginning to flood up into his face,'You—you Jeff K-Kilmartin? I'm just asking!' K-Cool nodded casually in the affirmative. 'Yeah, kid,' he said flatly. 'then—then this is yours!' the kid said, tears beginning to well up in his eyes. He shoved a long, white, sealed envelope into Kilmartin's hand. Joining the Crazy Eights means high fives, looks of respect, and the kind of adoration usually reserved for superheroes. Jeff Kilmartin and his best friend Rake have wanted to join for years. But when Kilmartin finally gets an invitation, will the cost of membership be higher than he's willing to pay? The twists and turns keep on coming when you meet the Crazy Eights !

When Tilly receives an invitation to help drive eight elders on their ultimate bucket-list road trip, she impulsively says yes. Before she knows it, Tilly has said good-bye to her family and is on an adventure that will transform her in ways she could not predict, just as it will for the elders who soon dub themselves “the Crazy Eights.” The Crazy Eights each choose a stop—somewhere or something they’ve always wanted to experience—on the way to their ultimate goal, the Gathering of Nations Pow Wow in Albuquerque. Their plan is to travel to Las Vegas, Sedona, and the Redwood Forests, with each destination the inspiration for secrets and stories to be revealed. The trip proves to be powerful medicine as they laugh, heal, argue, and dream along the way. By the time their bus rolls to a stop in New Mexico, Tilly and the Crazy Eights, with friendships forged and hearts mended, feel ready for anything. But are they?

The best-ever kids' introduction to card games is back in print! Joanna Cole and Stephanie Calmenson's clear, step-by-step explanations, along with Alan Tiegreen's spunky illustrations and diagrams, make each game easy to understand and play. With 20 card games to choose from, including basic solitaire games like Aces Up and group games from Go Fish to Poker, there s something for everyone. Games like Snap and Concentration help improve math and memory skills, while fast-moving Slapjack and I Doubt It will have kids up out of their seats.

Sent to North Woods School in Vermont by a juvenile court judge, 14-year-old Thelma struggles to define her identity and meaning in life.

The New York Times bestseller everyone is talking about. If you could read my mind, you wouldn't be smiling. Samantha McAllister looks just like the rest of the popular girls in her junior class. But hidden beneath the straightened hair and expertly applied makeup is a secret that her friends would never understand: Sam has Purely-Obsessional OCD and is consumed by a stream of dark thoughts and worries that she can't turn off. Second-guessing every move, thought, and word makes daily life a struggle, and it doesn't help that her lifelong friends will turn toxic at the first sign of a wrong outfit, wrong lunch, or wrong crush. Yet Sam knows she'd be truly crazy to leave the protection of the most popular girls in school. So when Sam meets Caroline, she has to keep her new friend with a refreshing sense of humor and no style a secret, right up there with Sam's weekly visits to her psychiatrist. Caroline introduces Sam to Poet's Corner, a hidden room and a tight-knit group of misfits who have been ignored by the school at large. Sam is drawn to them immediately, especially a guitar-playing guy with a talent for verse, and starts to discover a whole new side of herself. Slowly, she begins to feel more "normal" than she ever has as part of the popular crowd . . . until she finds a new reason to question her sanity and all she holds dear.

Crazy ’08 is simply a delight, required reading for all fans of baseball in Chicago. — --Chicago Tribune “If you are any kind of fan, you ought to relish and revel in this wonderful book” — --Washington Times A penetrating look at the dead-ball era, when the game truly was the national pastime. A- — --Entertainment Weekly “picturesque details are what make...Crazy ‘08 such a fun and revealing journey through the early days of baseball.” — --Sports Illustrated “Entertaining and meticulously researched.” — Wall Street Journal “Beguiling” — Raleigh News & Observer “[A] rollicking tour... will fascinate students of baseball... cause today’s Cub fans to experience an unaccustomed feeling---pride...” — New York Times Book Review “[W]orthy to stand alongside The Glory of Their Times..., out in front.” — Raleigh News & Observer

Joseph "Spade" Spader, Pamela "Smoke" Prescott, Christopher "Eight-Ball" Chen, Cornelius "The Hammer" Brown, Chisella "Chill" Martinez, Chaco "Crossbow" Hawikuh, Antonette "The Huntress" Hunter, Clinton "Ballistic" Andrews. These are The Crazy Eights: Black Ops 888. An elite paramilitary group employed by the United States government to handle the dirty jobs that others cannot. Although they all enjoy the rewards of the jobs, a few members have doubts about the dubious actions they are committing. After a dangerous run-in by the Boko Haram in the jungles of Africa with all members left in a critical state, the team comes across an ancient seal where the Yourba deity twins The Ibeji are sealed. The Crazy Eights are granted a new lease on life after freeing the twins, and find themselves face-to-face against the demons that lurk in the shadows and manipulate everything from behind the scenes: The Effect. The never-ending battle between the forces of good and evil, the light and the dark, hope and despair begin once more! The Crazy Eights now have a new goal in mind. To right their wrongs, free other sealed deities, and eradicate the evil Effect forces from the planet.

THE STORIES: The three short comedies in this collection were all originally written as part of The 24 Hour Plays On Broadway. Described by The New York Post as "the equivalent of a high-wire act without a net," the 24 Hour Plays is an annual benefit in which several one acts are written, cast, directed and performed on Broadway in less than a day. As Black Book says, "It's a raucous, foot-stomping evening which redefines fresh." CRAZY EIGHTS. When Connie comes home late one night, she finds her parole officer waiting in her apartment with a torte and a long list of questions. The interrogation/courting dance that follows is complicated by the after-hours arrival of Connie's charming card-playing buddy. (2 men, 1 woman.) BABY FOOD is a contemporary comedy about an off-kilter couple desperately searching for godparents for their newborn infant. Little do they know that the friends they've chosen are less than adventurous diners and on the verge of a divorce. (2 men, 2 women.) THAT OTHER PERSON. Tonight is the night Ginge and Kevin are going to tell their respective spouses the marriage-shattering secret they've been keeping from everyone. But their bomb shell gets put on the back burner when a gorgeous peeping-tom, with secrets of her own, falls in the pool and nearly drowns. (2 men, 3 women.)

For Jake Hines, Captain of Detectives in Rutherford, MN, the fact that Benny Niemeyer was found not guilty of murder is an almost personal insult. He'd spent months developing the case, Benny's attorney almost sleep-walked through the trial, the DA had done a great job, even if several key witnesses had either disappeared or developed courtroom amnesia. Even so, when Benny is found dead two nights later, and it's clear there was nothing natural about his death, Jake does what he has to do. At first there are more questions than answers, more blind alleys and stone walls than a growing city like Rutherford should have had. But detectives follow leads, no matter how ridiculous they appear; after all, what could missing silver at the Aldrich estate have to do with the death of a lowlife thug? What could the death of a prisoner in Stillwater have to do with a missing Beretta in Rutherford? But Jake pieces together this puzzle meticulously, because even a killer deserves justice... At the publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management software (DRM) applied.