Gerald made it through the first few weeks of Mob Middle School in one piece (give or take a limb), even if his quest for popularity hasn’t led to fame and glory yet. When he hears about the school’s upcoming talent show, Gerald sets his sights on a new plan: unveiling his hidden talents as a rapper. He can picture it already—kids will finally know his name. They'll beg for his autograph. Maybe he’ll even impress the super-popular Eddy Enderman! But Gerald’s got some rivals for that top spot, not the least of which is a band of spider jockeys determined to keep a sixth-grader from winning the show. His sister is determined to blow him out of the water with her cannonball trick. Even his best friend steps up the competition with his slime-block trampoline. In the second book of this hilarious, heavily illustrated, diary format series for Minecrafters, Gerald may win fame and glory—but what will he lose along the way?

This book explores the construction of the idea of the ‘talented’ student in India and its relationship to the discourse of the ‘nation’. It historically situates the evolution of the National Science Talent Search (NSTS) and its subsequent avatar, the National Talent Search Examination (NTSE), with state-sponsored ideas and practices of ‘nation-building’. It also delves into how individuals who wrote and cleared the examination inhabit this identity of the ‘talented’. Drawing on policy documents and institutional literature of over 50 years as well as interviews with past winners of the NSTS/NTSE, including a Nobel laureate, this book is a major intervention in the field of South Asian studies, public policy, and education.

Julie, Steven, and Lorraine do not remember anything about their young lives. Adopted by three families, it soon becomes clear that these innocent children possess some not so innocent powers. But the children vanish from their new homes as suddenly as they arrived. Lured to a secret compound by the voice of a mysterious child and held prisoner, the trio discovers that they must unite against a powerful evil. Can the adults find and save these innocent children before they are captured by an unknown source of evil? PRAISE: “Cries of the Children is one of my all-time favorite books, a real page turner. For mystery and suspense buffs, it's a must read. For sci-fi enthusiasts, it’s a must own. Luckily, I'm both.” —Octavia Spencer, Academy Award-winning Actress

This series motivates kids to take charge of their interests, talents, and goals!

"A down-to-earth, inspiring book about the American promise fulfilled." -President Bill Clinton "Fascinating . . . . Made me wish I had been born in the Bronx." -Barbara Walters A touching and provocative collection of memories that evoke the history of one of America's most influential boroughs-the Bronx-through some of its many success stories The vivid oral histories in Arlene Alda's Just Kids from the Bronx reveal what it was like to grow up in the place that bred the influencers in just about every field of endeavor. The Bronx is where Michael Kay, the New York Yankees' play-by-play broadcaster, first experienced baseball; where J. Crew's CEO Millard ("Mickey") Drexler found his ambition; where Neil deGrasse Tyson and Dava Sobel fell in love with science; and where local music making inspired singer-songwriter Dion DiMucci and hip-hop's Grandmaster Melle Mel. The parks, the pickup games, the tough and tender mothers, the politics, the gangs, the food-for people who grew up in the Bronx, childhood recollections are fresh. Arlene Alda's own Bronx memories were a jumping-off point from which to reminisce with a nun, a police officer, an urban planner, and with Al Pacino, Carl Reiner, Colin Powell, Maira Kalman, Bobby Bonilla, Mary Higgins Clark, and many other leading artists, athletes, scientists, and entrepreneurs-experiences spanning six decades of Bronx living. Alda then arranged these pieces of the past, from looking for violets along the banks of the Bronx River to the wake-up calls from teachers who recognized potential, into one great collective story, a filmlike portrait of the Bronx from the early twentieth century until today.

We can't always be there to protect our kids as they make their way in the world. What we can do is equip them with the tools they need to ensure they have a positive social experience. Based on many years' experience counselling bullies and targets, Stella O'Malley offers concrete strategies to empower children and teenagers to deal confidently with bullying and dominant characters. She identifies effective ways for families to cope when bullying occurs, including approaching the school authorities, communicating with the bully's parents and tips to tackle cyberbullying. Stella's common-sense approach will help your child, tween or teen to develop their emotional intelligence and will provide relief for families navigating the rapidly changing social environment, both online and in school.

The characters truly speak for themselves in George V. Higgins’ chilling tour de force about deceit, blackmail and the importance of paying one’s dues. Ultimate recidivist Earl Beale has learnt little from his early release from jail and narrow escape from being drafted, seemingly nothing can cure him of his criminal ways. Obsessed by money, and with a keen eye for scheming, he’s the kind of car salesman no one can trust. When suddenly some unfinished business from his past catches up with him, it’s dubitable whether he’s going to successfully extricate himself from this one. A witty yet stinging tale of the dangers of putting money and self-interest above everything else, Trust is about a man with no scruples.

New breakthroughs in society, science, technology, and business keep upending our lives. This fascinating collection of articles explains how our world is constantly evolving, and predicts why your life may be transformed next. The pace of change in the world has accelerated dramatically to the point where a concerted awareness and continual effort are required to keep up. As modern technology continually brings new developments throughout society at an ever-increasing rate, we need to understand the advances that are reshaping our world in order to better adjust to these coming changes—and in some cases, profit from them. In The Very Next New Thing: Commentaries on the Latest Developments That Will Be Changing Your Life, acclaimed author Gini Graham Scott has assembled a comprehensive collection of articles that showcases the latest developments and discoveries in science, technology, health, and medicine, along with the latest trends in everyday lifestyles and popular culture. She also explains the beneficial use of novel technologies, describes the creation of new products and services, and discusses how these changes could possibly revolutionize our lives in the 21st century.

Bringing together scholars from musicology, literature, childhood studies, and theater, this volume examines the ways in which children's musicals tap into adult nostalgia for childhood while appealing to the needs and consumer potential of the child. The contributors take up a wide range of musicals, including works inspired by the books of children's authors such as Roald Dahl, P.L. Travers, and Francis Hodgson Burnett; created by Rodgers and Hammerstein, Lionel Bart, and other leading lights of musical theater; or conceived for a cast made up entirely of children. The collection examines musicals that propagate or complicate normative attitudes regarding what childhood is or should be. It also considers the child performer in movie musicals as well as in professional and amateur stage musicals. This far-ranging collection highlights the special place that musical theater occupies in the imaginations and lives of children as well as adults. The collection comes at a time of increased importance of musical theater in the lives of children and young adults.

Critically acclaimed veteran sportswriter Frank Fitzpatrick takes readers courtside for one of the greatest upsets in college basketball history, the 1985 Villanova/Georgetown national championship showdown. A veteran Philadelphia Inquirer sportswriter and Pulitzer Prize finalist, Frank Fitzpatrick has long followed and covered Villanova basketball. In all that time, nothing compares with the Wildcats' legendary 1985 upset of Georgetown—a win so spectacular and unusually flawless that days after its conclusion, sports columnists were already calling it "The Perfect Game." The game, particularly its second half, was so different from what observers expected—so different, in fact, from what anyone had ever seen that a shroud of myth almost immediately began to envelop it. Over the years, the game took on mythological proportions with heroes and villains, but with a darker, more complex subtext. In the midst of the sunny Reagan Administration, the game had been played out amid darker themes—race, death, and, though no one knew it at the time, drugs. It was a night when the basketball world turned upside down. Villanova-Georgetown would be a perfect little microcosm of the 1980s. And it would be much more. Even now, a quarter-century later, the upset gives hope to sporting Davids everywhere. At the start of every NCAA Tournament, it is recalled as an exemplar of March's madness. Whenever sport's all-time upsets are ranked, it is high on those lists, along with hockey's Miracle on Ice. Now, through interviews with the players and coaches, through the work of sociologists and cultural critics, through the eyes of those who witnessed the game, Fitzpatrick brings to life the events of and surrounding that fateful night.