It was a time of honored traditions and tight-knit communities ... an era where neighborhood schools thrived, and children played simple games in the fresh outdoors. Finding Lost Marbles: Remembering the 50s in River City is a whimsical look back at what once was, before technological gadgetry wired our youth, and a reflective consideration of how we can reach back and resurrect some of the values that made the Fifties so fabulous.

Each of the prose poems that constitute the first part of this volume juxtaposes at least two widely different images and ways of reading them. The result - an either/or choice between incompatibles - can be surprising. Those of the second part are based on more free-wheeling association and word play. All good fun.

"Natasha Tracy has written a book that straddles the chasm between self-help and memoir. Natasha's own experiences with bipolar disorder and depression illustrate what it is truly like to live with serious mental illness and offer real-world ways to live better with it. Natasha pulls no punches, doesn't sugarcoat and yet still offers real hope to the reader. This book will give those with mental illness and their loved ones "ah-hah" moments on every page."--

The second book in this delightfully strange and hilarious series perfect for Lemony Snicket and Trenton Lee Stewart fans. The evil mayor of Frederik's Hill is determined that no one will ruin her upcoming International Midsummer Festival. And town troublemakers Frederik and Pernille are trying to keep a low profile, but seem to have been the source of some pesky zombie rumors that are flooding the town and indeed threatening to do just that. Determined to turn the spotlight off them, Frederik plans to expose the mayor's big secret—one she has kept hidden for years and involves a legion of valuable statues and an elephant stampede. But then the worst happens. Pernille goes missing and Frederik learns that her disappearance is a part of the mayor's horrible plan to deport all foreigners from Frederik's Hill. Now it's up to him to stop the mayor before it's too late.

In the 1930s, famous glassblower Ernst Muller perfected a secret technique to create a set of the most valuable marbles in the world. But as time rolled on and the dark clouds of world events prevailed, Ernst Mueller sadly lost his marbles. Flash forward to today. Meet FBI Agent Dana Dillion O’Toole, DD to her friends. DD loves rock and roll, fast cars and catching bad guys. But catching a good guy to love, just isn’t working for DD. She’s too quirky, and maybe too suspicious. One thing for sure, Agent O’Toole is one fiery, go-getter when it comes to solving a case. Problem is, DD runs too hot and fast which causes a few headaches for her nervous boss. It’s time for Agent O’Toole to chill and take a break. So, DD gets assigned to an irrelevant, go-nowhere case. Her boss is convinced Agent O’Toole will stay out of controversy and off the media radar. A frustrated and unhappy DD takes the case only to find herself free falling into a dark rabbit hole filled with zany, crazy people who are all in search of Muller’s Marbles.

It's Thanksgiving! A.J. is thankful for four days off from school. But he's not thankful for Dr. Carbles, who is grumpier than ever. Dr. Carbles even fires Mr. Klutz! Will A.J. and his friends be able to save their principal's job?

'A Handful of Marbles' is a collection of twelve stories that takes readers down the nostalgia lane to what childhood used to be, much before the whole world and its kids went digital. The stories revolve around Pushkar, a nine-year-old precocious boy with a mind of his own. The readers get a ringside view of his life sprinkled with happiness, tears, conflicts, collaborations, love, bonhomie, fears, fantasies, aspirations, arrogance, anger, and more. Be it fighting his guilt conscience after unfairly winning a marble match, his ambition to be a manjha ninja, his encounter with ghouls, his confrontation with the Sarkar gang, obsession with Bruce Lee, his dilemma choosing between Lord Krishna and Jesus, his comic book adventure, his unusual acting debut in a film or infatuation for Twinkle Miss, the stories tend to be endearing, humourous and sometimes, plain baffling. Whatever the outcome, they will leave the readers smiling, thinking, and rooting for Pushkar.

For the past two centuries and more, the West has acquired the treasures of antiquity to fill its museums, so that visitors to the British Museum in London, the Louvre in Paris and the Metropolitan in New York - to name but a few - can wonder at the ingenuity of humanity throughout the ages. However, in the opinion of most people, many of these items are looted property and should be returned immediately. In 'Keeping Their Marbles', Tiffany Jenkins tells the intriguing and sometimes bloody story of how the West came to acquire these treasures. Originally published: 2016.

The archaeology of war has revealed evidence of bravery, sacrifice, heroism, cowardice, and atrocities. Mostly absent from these narratives of victory and defeat, however, are the experiences of prisoners of war, despite what these can teach us about cruelty, ingenuity, and human adaptability. The international array of case studies in Prisoners of War restores this hidden past through case studies of PoW camps of the Napoleonic era, the American Civil War, and both World Wars. These bring to light wide variations in historical and cultural details, excavation and investigative methods used, items found and their interpretation, and their contributions to archaeology, history and heritage. Illustrated with diagrams, period photographs, and historical quotations, these chapters vividly reveal challenges and opportunities for researchers and heritage managers, and revisit powerful ethical questions that persist to this day. Notorious and lesser-known aspects of PoW experiences that are addressed include: Designing and operating an 18th-century British PoW camp. Life and death at Confederate and Union American Civil War PoW camps. The role of possessions in coping strategies during World War I. The archaeology of the ‘Great Escape’ Experiencing and negotiating space at civilian internment camps in Germany and Allied PoW camps in Normandy in World War II. The role of archaeology in the memorial process, in America, Norway, Germany and France Graffiti, decorative ponds, illicit saké drinking, and family life at Japanese American camps As one of the first book-length examinations of this fascinating multidisciplinary topic, Prisoners of War merits serious attention from historians, social justice researchers and activists, archaeologists, and anthropologists.