"I want to be an honorary member of the lost names club so that I can have adventures, explore lost places and people, shiver, laugh and finally come to know that laughter is a great weapon against bullies, daft adults and the dark!" Tony Turner, actor. "It always makes you want to read on. Everyone in my class finished it in less than two days." "It's funny as well as truthful. Our teacher wanted us to give her back our copies of the story, but we wanted to keep them." "The story asks the reader lots of questions but then sooner or later all those questions answer themselves." A few comments on the novel from a class of ten year olds: Ray Speakman is a writer, editor and teacher. This is his second story about Jimmy McConkey and his friends - and enemies. The first story, How Many Times Do I Have to Tell You? has been received enthusiastically by teachers, children and parents - so much so that this second story quickly became an inevitability. He lives in Solihull and Cornwall. Malc Speakman is an illustrator, art historian and teacher. He lives in Cheshire and London.

A Lunatic Escapes From An Insane Asylum And Finds America In 2020 To His Liking.

It was 1973 when, as a very poor (grade-wise) junior in high school, I decided to join the Army once I graduated from high school. Living in a very small southern Minnesota farming community, my options were limited and I, having spent the best part of my high school days having fun and ignoring my grades, would not be accepted in any respectable college or university. While thumbing through the current issue of Cosmopolitan, a card fell out, urging me to send in for more information on the Armed Services. My initial service of choice was the Air Force but they wanted a minimum commitment of four years. Since the Army only wanted three, I chose it instead. I signed up for the Delayed Entry Program – joining before my high school graduation, after which time I would go on active duty. Joining early guaranteed my promotion from E-1 to E-2 once I survived Basic Training. Eleven days after graduation, I was on an airplane to Columbia, South Carolina’s Fort Jackson. It was early June and extremely hot. I was all by myself – unless you count the other hundreds of women who were also beginning their Army careers. It was scary but I took comfort in the fact that we were all in the same boat. This book describes my experiences in Basic Training, my computer training, and my two and a half years in The Pentagon as a Computer Console Operator. Back in 1974, women in Basic Training trained with other women – no men allowed, however, some of the Drill Instructors were male. We were still considered members of the Women’s Army Corps, commonly called WACS – we were not fully integrated in the “regular” Army until 1976 or so. But we trained wearing fatigues, boots, wool socks, hauling field packs and canteens – just like the men. I was and still am, opinionated, mouthy and contrary to authority. How in the world did I survive three years in the Army? I stood steadfast to my motto: Just Shut Your Mouth and Do What You’re Told.

If children were little scientists who learn best through firsthand observations and mini-experiments, as conventional wisdom holds, how would a child discover that the earth is round—never mind conceive of heaven as a place someone might go after death? Overturning both cognitive and commonplace theories about how children learn, Trusting What You’re Told begins by reminding us of a basic truth: Most of what we know we learned from others. Children recognize early on that other people are an excellent source of information. And so they ask questions. But youngsters are also remarkably discriminating as they weigh the responses they elicit. And how much they trust what they are told has a lot to do with their assessment of its source. Trusting What You’re Told opens a window into the moral reasoning of elementary school vegetarians, the preschooler’s ability to distinguish historical narrative from fiction, and the six-year-old’s nuanced stance toward magic: skeptical, while still open to miracles. Paul Harris shares striking cross-cultural findings, too, such as that children in religious communities in rural Central America resemble Bostonian children in being more confident about the existence of germs and oxygen than they are about souls and God. We are biologically designed to learn from one another, Harris demonstrates, and this greediness for explanation marks a key difference between human beings and our primate cousins. Even Kanzi, a genius among bonobos, never uses his keyboard to ask for information: he only asks for treats.

I have a very high sex drive and spend 8 months of the year bored in hotel rooms. My husband is loving but is not the most sexual beast, so it became necessary to cuckold him. While most men love this idea, he hates it. When I kiss or take men to bed in front of him he gets upset, begs and cries in front of us. I love him very much, I will never leave him, but I also love the thrill of undressing with a man for the first time. This book is my absolute truth, my every encounter, big and small, from flirty touches at parties to full blown sex. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I did doing it and as much as I will enjoy spending the royalties on shoes and underwear.

Hey you! Fatty! Yes, you. Your obesity is disgusting to me, to your family and friends, and most of all to yourself. I know what youre thinking. Ive been there, been fat (beyond fat I was morbidly obese) and I know all the excuses. I have news for you. All your excuses are bullshit! You have the power to change your life and your lifestyle. If this fat bastard can do it, anyone can. Let me help you. Read about my journey and how you too can live a healthy lifestyle. I know you can.

"Moving, multifaceted, and deeply human...as eye-opening as it is compelling" —Cecile Richards, author of Make Trouble At a time where reproductive rights are at risk, these vital stories of diverse individuals serve as a reminder of the importance of empathy, finding community and motivating advocacy For a long time, when people asked Dr. Meera Shah, Chief medical officer of Planned Parenthood Hudson Peconic, what she did, she would tell them she was a doctor and leave it at that. But when she started to be direct about her work as an abortion provider an interesting thing started to happen: one by one, people would confide that they'd had an abortion themselves. The refrain was often the same: You're the only one I've told. This book collects these stories as they've been told to Shah to humanize abortion and to combat myths that persist in the discourse that surrounds it. A wide range of ages, races, socioeconomic factors, and experiences shows that abortion always occurs in a unique context. Today, a healthcare issue that's so precious and foundational to reproductive, social, and economic freedom for millions of people is exploited by politicians who lack understanding or compassion about the context in which abortion occurs. Stories have the power to break down stigmas and help us to empathize with those whose experiences are unlike our own. A portion of proceeds will be donated to promote reproductive health access.

Finalist for the NBCC Award for Criticism 'Nothing about Jenny Diski is conventional. Diski does not do linear, or normal, or boring ... highly intelligent, furiously funny' Sunday Times 'Funny, heartbreaking, insightful and wise' Emilia Clarke 'She expanded notions about what nonfiction, as an art form, could do and could be' New Yorker Jenny Diski was a fearless writer, for whom no subject was too difficult, even her own cancer diagnosis. Her columns in the London Review of Books – selected here by her editor and friend Mary-Kay Wilmers, on subjects as various as death, motherhood, sexual politics and the joys of solitude – have been described as 'virtuoso performances', and 'small masterpieces'. From Highgate Cemetery to the interior of a psychiatric hospital, from Tottenham Court Road to the icebergs of Antarctica, Why Didn't You Just Do What You Were Told? is a collective interrogation of the universal experience from a very particular psyche: original, opinionated – and mordantly funny.

'My child just came out to me as trans: What should I do?' If you are a parent looking for an answer to this question, you have come to the right place. Gathering together practical advice and personal experiences from a range of parents, activists and experts, this FAQ book provides answers to the most common questions you will have as a parent of a transgender child. What if they change their minds? How do I make sure my child is safe at school? How do we tell our other children? Sharing their experiences of how they navigated their child's transition to raise a happy and healthy child, the parents in this book will give you the tools you need to support your trans child to thrive, while the experts provide a research-based perspective on supporting trans youth. With answers to everything you need to know - from social transition, mental health and medical care, through to schools, faith and your personal feelings as a parent - this is the ultimate resource for any family with a trans child.