Jackson "Jax" Kingsford is a skilled hockey player with a wicked slapshot. When his team makes it to the state hockey tournament, he can't believe that he has to play against his former best friend, Archer Voss. The two were once inseparable and loved playing hockey together, both in Jax's backyard and on the school's hockey team. But then Archer's family had to move, splitting up the team and causing a fall out in their friendship. What will happen when the former friends face off against each other in the big game? Combining a high-stakes sports story with a dynamic full-color comic format, this Jake Maddox Graphic Novel is sure to be a win for young athletes and struggling readers alike.

Jax Kingsford loved playing hockey with his neighbor friend Archer Foss, but then Archer's family moved, and the team, and friendship, was split up. Now, years later, Jax has to play against Archer for the championship for his school.

Kyle wants to be a great hockey player just like his older brother, but to do that, he must focus all of his energy on the game and not be distracted by a teammate's injury.

JACOBS: For the last three years, I've lived and breathed hockey with one goal: team captain. There's only one thing standing in my way.TJ Beckett. Beck is irresponsible and immature, and I've hated him since the moment we met freshman year. Yet, the coaches see something in him I obviously can't, and they refuse to choose between us. The captain spot is going to a team vote. And the team thinks that what we need are a bunch of challenges to prove our worth. Challenges that have nothing to do with hockey. Challenges that are throwing me and Beck together. And he's still as infuriating as ever. BECK: I have no idea why Christopher Jacobs hates me, and I can't say I care. I like pushing his buttons, but the guy needs to loosen up. I'm going to win these stupid challenges easily and spend my senior year as hockey king on this campus. Tormenting Jacobs at the same time will just be a bonus. Even if I'm getting confusing feelings toward him, I won't let it hold me back. When it comes to competing, I'm all in, and nothing will get between me and the W.

Laura Black is a druid who can change her appearance. She is both the Fey Guild's public relations director and a secret agent for the International Security Agency. And now she'll have to choose where her loyalties lie when a political war breaks out between the fey and human populations...

Discover the fast, fun art of drawing comic portraits! Face Off shows you how to draw life like never before. Caricaturist Harold Hamernik shares the secrets to capturing the sillier side of friends, family, celebrities, strangers—any face that crosses your path. 40 step-by-step demonstrations show you how to sketch whimsical and expressive likenesses while developing your own quick, loose, improvisational style. You'll get expert instruction on: • Drawing eyes, noses, mouths and other features. • Creating portraits in front, three-quarter and profile views. • Adding color to your caricatures, either by hand or via computer—instruction you won't find in any other book! • Tips for making a likeness more masculine (skip the eyelashes), more feminine (lengthen the neck), younger, older, sexier, goofier—all while making a portrait your subject will love. • How to draw hair as two simple lines, why drawing the parts of a face in the same order every time can cut minutes off your work, and tons of other handy tricks of the craft! Practice the simple techniques in this book, then start drawing! It's the most fun you can have with paper, pencils and markers!

Taiwan's first presidential election, in 1996, sparked a Sino-U.S. military showdown that resulted in the biggest show of U.S. naval force in East Asia since the Vietnam War. This book is the first to explore the origins and triangular dynamics of that historic confrontation. Analyzing the key decisions and misperceptions that led to the Taiwan Strait crisis, Garver warns that it may usher in a more confrontational era of Sino-U.S. relations. China is already emerging as an economic powerhouse and fears of its becoming an expansionist military power have grown in recent years as China has rapidly built up its armed forces since 1989. It has also adopted a more assertive stance in several territorial disputes with its neighbors, arousing new security concerns for Asia as a whole. When China tried to intimidate Taiwan's voters by firing missiles and conducting large-scale military exercises off its coasts in the period preceding the 1996 election, the U.S. dispatched two aircraft carrier battle groups to Taiwan. The prestige of all sides was fully engaged as powerful do domestic interests demanded an assertive posture. Eventually, China adopted a more cautious stance and the crisis passed. But it marked the first instance of Chinese nuclear coercion of the U.S. and gave the "China threat" new credence in the U.S. and elsewhere in Asia. The author has studied the Taiwan question for more than 30 years and has witnessed first-hand the growth and culmination of Taiwan's democratization. This sober, mature reflection of decades of thought is certain to inform the debate on the "China threat" and the future of Sino-U.S. relations.

After a rocky start, Savannah Wells finally has everything she wants in life: family, friends, a cat, and her ice hockey team. If she could only convince her mother to stop setting her up on increasingly awkward blind dates, life would be perfect. Professional photographer Madison Scott isn’t going to settle for less than the happily ever after she reads about in romance novels. But her new next-door neighbor is sexy as hell, so when Savannah suggests a fake relationship in hopes of getting her mother to stop interfering in her private life, Maddie’s all in. When fake dating, fake kissing, and forced proximity start to feel a lot like falling in love, Savannah and Madison will need to face off and decide if exchanging pretend for reality is really possible.

Twelve-year-old Delilah James is one of the top reporters at Brighton Junior Academy and dreams of becoming a Junior Global Journalist. But when an international rival named Ava invades her newsroom and takes over her crush, Delilah finds an unlikely ally in the Debutantes - a.k.a. the Little Debbies.

It was an average day in my above-average life: wake up hungover with a woman I just met, part ways, then drive to the arena for a home game with my pro hockey team. But when my car breaks down on the highway, a stunning waitress named Tess pulls over and surprises me by easily fixing it. Great little detour in my routine, right? It would’ve been if her kid hadn’t lifted my wallet. Now I have to find Tess and get it back. When I discover that the money’s gone, Tess insists that her son work off the debt to me. And the more I get to know the spirited single mom and her hilarious family, the more I find myself at a crossroads. I’m in a personal face-off: The man I’ve always been vs. the man I want to be for Tess and her kids.