In an event well beyond the imagination of the average mind, a jobless youth turns out to be the only one who can save the day for a film star of yore. When Joe DCosta offers superstar Vicky Bhargav a ride to a film shoot on his dilapidated scooter, little does he imagine this rendezvous can direct him up the alley of good fortune. What begins as a crazy road trip turns out to be a game changer for the two men. Good Boy Joe is a comical narration of how two strangers end up bringing a glimmer of hope and joy in each others downtrodden lives.

A uniquely illuminating memoir of the making of a musician, in which renowned pianist Jeremy Denk explores what he learned from his teachers about classical music: its forms, its power, its meaning - and what it can teach us about ourselves. In this searching and funny memoir, based on his popular New Yorker article, renowned pianist Jeremy Denk traces an implausible journey. Life is difficult enough as a precocious, temperamental, and insufferable six-year-old piano prodigy in New Jersey. But then a family meltdown forces a move to New Mexico, far from classical music’s nerve centers, and he has to please a new taskmaster while navigating cacti, and the perils of junior high school. Escaping from New Mexico at last, he meets a bewildering cast of college music teachers, ranging from boring to profound, and experiences a series of humiliations and triumphs, to find his way as one of the world’s greatest living pianists, a MacArthur 'Genius,' and a frequent performer at Carnegie Hall. There are few writers working today who are willing to eloquently explore both the joys and miseries of artistic practice. Hours of daily repetition, mystifying early advice, pressure from parents and teachers who drove him on – an ongoing battle of talent against two enemies: boredom and insecurity. As we meet various teachers, with cruel and kind streaks, Denk composes a fraught love letter to the act of teaching. He brings you behind the scenes, to look at what motivates both student and teacher, locked in a complicated and psychologically perilous relationship. In Every Good Boy Does Fine, Denk explores how classical music is relevant to 'real life,' despite its distance in time. He dives into pieces and composers that have shaped him – Bach, Mozart, Schubert, and Brahms, among others – and gives unusual lessons on melody, harmony, and rhythm. Why and how do these fundamental elements have such a visceral effect on us? He tries to sum up many of the lessons he has received, to repay the debt of all his amazing teachers; to remind us that music is our creation, and that we need to keep asking questions about its purpose.

When is a "tulip"* not a flower? When it's one of hundreds of mnemonic devices in this comprehensive sourcebook. From remembering the notes on a scale (Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge) to correctly performing geometric equations (Soh-Cah-Toa) to using "HOMES" for conjuring up the Great Lakes (Huron Ontario Michigan Erie Superior), mnemonic devices have helped countless students, teachers, and trivia buffs recall key information in a snap-using anagrams, clever rhymes, and word games. In this comprehensive guide, readers will find a wide spectrum of ingeniously simple mnemonic devices for recalling facts about: - Science - Math - Geography - Religion - Literature - Music - Social Studies - Law - Aviation - Zodiac - Spelling - Mythology - World History - Sports - And more *Total Depravity, Unconditional Election, Limited Atonement; Irrestible Grace, and Perserverance of the Saints (The Five Tenets of Calvinism)

Cheesemaker Joe Galletti has lost everything - except his belly, his taste buds and his well-appointed kitchen. As Joe's life is all about his ripening cheeses, his neighbors' lives are all about trying to hide their passions - some of them illicit, some illegal, and some creatively immoral...

There's a new dog in town! Finally Greenwood gets the mayor they've been waiting for--Mayor Good Boy! In this graphic novel, a very good dog is going to save his town, one hilarious try at a time. The votes are in and the new mayor is...A DOG?! This dog will do more than shake paws. Mayor Good Boy is here to help Greenwood become a town filled with kindness, starting with fetching help for the local zoo. With foes around every corner trying to put a stop to Mayor Good Boy's campaign of fun, are there cheese snacks and belly rubs in his future? Or will the whole town suddenly have a flea problem? In the hilarious Mayor Good Boy graphic novel series, everyone can make the world a better place, whether you’re a human or a dog.

In this “charming” and melancholic novel, a former child sleuth “investigates the hard-to-crack case of Lost Innocence” (Entertainment Weekly). A Chicago Tribune, Kirkus Reviews, and Booklist Book of the Year In the twilight of a mysterious childhood full of wonder, Billy Argo, boy detective, is brokenhearted to find that his younger sister and crime-solving partner, Caroline, has committed suicide. Ten years later, Billy, age thirty, returns from an extended stay at St. Vitus’ Hospital for the Mentally Ill to discover the world full of unimaginable strangeness: office buildings vanish without reason, small animals turn up without their heads, and cruel villains ride city buses to complete their evil schemes. Lost within this unwelcoming place, Billy befriends two lonely, extraordinary children—one a science fair genius, the other a charming, silent bully. With a nearly forgotten bravery, he experiences the unendurable boredom of a telemarketing job; encounters a beautiful, desperate pickpocket; and confronts the nearly impossible solution to his sister’s case. Along a path laden with hidden clues and codes, the boy detective may learn the greatest secret of all: the necessity of the unknown. “Haunted by the mystery of his sister’s death and feeling that a lapse in his sleuthing may be to blame, Billy is determined to find out the reason for her suicide and to punish those responsible . . . The story of Billy’s search for truth, love and redemption is surprising and absorbing. Swaddled in melancholy and gentle humor, it builds in power as the clues pile up.” —Publishers Weekly “The author gives Billy a gallery of rogues to combat and even sends him to investigate the Convocation of Evil at a local hotel (‘Featured Panel: To Wear a Mask?’). Meno sets himself a complicated task, marooning his straight-arrow, pulp-fiction protagonist in a world uglier than the Bobbsey Twins ever faced but refusing to go for satire. Instead, the author takes his compulsive investigator at face value.” —Kirkus Reviews, starred review “Comedic, imaginative, empathic . . . investigates the precincts of grief [and] our longing to combat chaos with reason.” —Booklist

In this work of allegorical fantasy, author Boyd takes readers on a pilgrimage to a land of two kingdoms, but only one true King. An ancient land, where children never grow old. But also a dying land, where a false prince threatens to swallow everything in a dark shadow.

Anthony Award Finalist: A skip tracer chases an embezzler to Florida—and finds herself entangled with bikers and the IRS—in this thriller “packed with humor” (Booklist). With her low-level law-enforcement career on the rocks, it’s make-it-or-break-it time for zaftig Loretta Kovacs. She’s been assigned to the ragtag Parole Violators Search Unit, a.k.a. the Jump Squad. All her buttons are pushed when she goes undercover as a desperate dieter at a Florida fat farm in order to nab an embezzler who’s a perfect size 2. But untangling the mysteries surrounding this case is going to be harder than passing up a pastry . . . “Bruno’s characters are more than just quirky dressing for the plot . . . It moves fast and furious, but along the way his characters’ struggles with their own doubts and failings anchor the reader to them.” —The Nashville Banner “A divertingly comic entertainment with a bittersweet bite.” —Kirkus Reviews “Devil’s Food is good, grainy crime writing, a little bit like New Jersey’s answer to Elmore Leonard.” —The Advocate (Greenwich, CT)

Meet Jess and Joe. They want to tell you their story. Joe is Norfolk born and bred and wears wellies. Jess holidays there with her au pair and is slightly too tubby for her summer dresses. They are miles apart even when they stand next to each other. This is a story of growing up, fitting in (or not), boys, girls, secrets, scotch eggs and maybe even love, but most of all, it's about friendship. Spanning several summer holidays, Jess and Joe Forever is an unusual coming of age tale that explores rural life and what it means to belong somewhere, if you can really belong anywhere. A layered and thoughtful play about finding your place in the world when you only know a small corner of it. This edition was published to coincide with the world premiere of the play at the Orange Tree Theatre, Richmond, in September 2016.