Basketball is Jackson O’Connell’s life. Playing hoops helps Jackson forget his volcanic zits, crippling girl shyness ... and an alcoholic father who tore his family apart. When team politics keep him off the starting lineup, Jackson’s self-confidence plummets like an airball. Jackson must learn how to rebound ... and start shooting from the heart.

Ishmael is finally a senior and things are beginning to look up. His nemesis, Barry Bagsley, has decided to leave him alone at last and with help from his 'Reverse Cool' mates, Scobie and Razza, Ishmael is in with a chance of winning the school cup. Has he broken free of the dreaded Ishmael Leseur's Syndrome at last? Could life at St. Daniel's actually be described as 'normal'? Absolutely not.

This is a classic story of life in the American West. It begins with a beautifully written description of a man riding his tired horse slowly through the darkness of the plain. Both he and his horse are tired and also lost. The man tells the horse that they will have to sleep under the stars till daylight, when they will be able to work out where they are.

42 easy-to-read, ready-to-inspire sample essays on Shakespeare''s Hamlet. Inside you will find three 1,500-word essays on each of the following 14 characters, relationships and themes: #1: The Character of Hamlet Born a prince, parented by a jester, haunted by a ghost, destined to kill a king rather than become one, and remembered as the title character of a play he did not want to be in. #2: The Character of Claudius His "ambition" (3.3) for Denmark''s throne leads him to commit one murder only to find that he must plot a second to cover up the first. When this plan fails, his next scheme leads to his own death and that of the woman he loved. #3: The Character of Gertrude "Have you eyes?" (3.4), Prince Hamlet demands of his mother. Gertrude''s "o''erhasty marriage" (2.2) dooms her life and the lives of everyone around her when her wished-for, happily-ever-after fairytale ends in a bloodbath. #4: The Character of Ophelia Ophelia''s sanity is overwhelmed by Elsinore''s maddening world of deception and betrayal. Her "self-slaughter" (1.2) is her revenge against everyone who dismissed, silenced and humiliated her. #5: Relationship of Hamlet and the Ghost By surrendering Denmark to his rival''s son, Hamlet grants to the angry Ghost of his "dear father murdered" (2.2) the forgiveness his suffering soul needed more than the revenge he demanded. #6: Relationship of Hamlet and Claudius Claudius is haunted by the murder he has committed ("O heavy burden!", 3.1). Hamlet by the one he hasn''t yet ("Am I a coward?", 2.2). In the end, the prince by two means kills the "arrant knave" (1.5) whose poison claimed the lives of both his parents and who had twice plotted to murder him. #7: Relationship of Hamlet and Gertrude A haunted-by-the-past ("Must I remember?", 1.2) Hamlet seeks the truth about his father''s death. A live-in-the-moment ("All that is I see", 3.4) Gertrude seeks to protect her second husband and throne. #8: Relationship of Hamlet and Ophelia Their relationship begins in uncertainty, descends into mutual deceit and rejection, and ends with their double surrender to death: she, to the "weeping brook" (4.7); he, to Claudius'' "he shall not choose but fall" (4.7) rigged fencing duel. #9: Relationship of Hamlet and Horatio "Those friends thou hast ... Grapple them unto thy soul with hoops of steel" (1.3). Horatio is Hamlet''s trusted confidant in life and vows to remain the keeper of his memory after the prince''s death. #10: Relationship of Claudius and Gertrude A marriage of practical interest. Claudius wanted something (the kingship) he did not have; Gertrude had something (the status of queen) she wanted to hold onto. #11: The Themes of Hamlet A king murdered, an inheritance stolen, a family divided: Elsinore''s older generation destroys its younger when two brothers -- one living, one undead -- battle in a "cursed spite" (1.5) over a crown and queen. #12: The Theme of Revenge Two young men journey from revenge, through obsession and anger, to forgiveness. And the revenge sought in act one by the Ghost on his brother Claudius becomes in act five the revenge of old King Fortinbras on old King Hamlet. #13: The Theme Deception and Appearance versus Reality ''Seems'' and ''is'' are as tragically far apart as Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are comically similar in a play-long triple pun on the verb ''to act'': to take action, to behave deceitfully, and to perform in theater. #14: The Theme of Madness Is Hamlet ever really insane? If not, why is he pretending to be? Is the prince''s behavior the cause of Ophelia''s traumatic breakdown? Book website: www.essaykit.com.

Josh Volk, author of the best-selling Compact Farms, offers small-scale farmers an in-depth guide to building customized equipment that will save time and money and introduce much-needed efficiencies to their operations. Volk begins with the basics, such as setting up a workshop and understanding design principles, mechanical principles, and materials properties, then presents plans for making 15 tools suited to small-farm tasks and processes. Each project includes an explanation of the tool’s purpose and use, as well as the time commitment, skill level, and equipment required to build it. Projects range from the super-simple (requiring a half-day to build) to the more complex, and include how-to photographs and illustrations with variations for customizing the finished implement. Along with instructions for building items such as simple seedling benches, a mini barrel washer, a DIY germination chamber, and a rolling pack table, Volk addresses systems design for farm efficiency, including how to design an effective drip irrigation system and how to set up spreadsheets for collecting important planning, planting, and market data.

“A tour de force of reporting” (The Washington Post) from a Pulitzer–prize winning journalist that examines the often-corrupt machine producing America’s basketball stars “Indispensable.”—The Wall Street Journal “Often heart-breaking, always riveting.”—The New York Times Book Review “Tremendous.”—The Plain Dealer Winner of the PEN/ESPN Award for Literary Sportswriting• Winner of the Award for Excellence in the Coverage of Youth Sports Using eight years of unfettered access and a keen sense of a story’s deepest truths, journalist George Dohrmann reveals a cutthroat world where boys as young as eight or nine are subjected to a dizzying torrent of scrutiny and exploitation. At the book’s heart are the personal stories of two compelling figures: Joe Keller, an ambitious coach with a master plan to find and promote “the next LeBron,” and Demetrius Walker, a fatherless latchkey kid who falls under Keller’s sway and struggles to live up to unrealistic expectations. Complete with a new “where-are-they-now” epilogue by the author, Play Their Hearts Out is a thoroughly compelling narrative exposing the gritty reality that lies beneath so many dreams of fame and glory. One of GQ’S 50 Best Books of Literary Journalism of the 21st Century • One of the Best Books of the Year: Los Angeles Times, The Christian Science Monitor, Kirkus Reviews This edition includes an exclusive conversation between George Dohrmann and bestselling author Seth Davis.

An ALA-YALSA Best Book for Young Adults New Bonus Content: -Q&A with Walter Dean Myers -Q&A with screenwriter John Ballard -Teaser chapter from On a Clear Day -Excerpt from 145th Street All eyes are on seventeen-year-old Lonnie Jackson while he practices with his team for a city-wide basketball Tournament of Champions. His coach, Cal, knows Lonnie has what it takes to be a pro basketball player, but warns him about giving in to the pressure. Cal knows because he, too, once had the chance—but sold out. As the tournament nears, Lonnie learns that some heavy bettors want Cal to keep him on the bench so that the team will lose the championship. As the last seconds of the game tick away, Lonnie and Cal must make a decision. Are they willing to blow the chance of a lifetime?

A Washington Post Notable Book of 2017. Deborah Tannen's bestselling You Just Don't Understand: Conversations Between Women and Men made us aware of the deep and subtle meanings behind the words we say. She has since explored the way we talk at work, in arguments, to our mothers and our daughters. Now she turns to that most intense, precious and potential minefield: women's friendships. Best friend, old friend, good friend, new friend, neighbour, fellow mother at the school gate, workplace confidante: women's friendships are crucial. A friend can be like a sister, daughter, mother, mentor, therapist or confessor. She can also be the source of pain and betrayal. From casual chatting to intimate confiding, from talking about problems to sharing funny stories, there are patterns of communication and miscommunication that affect friendships. Tannen shows how even the best of friends - with the best intentions - can say the wrong thing, how the ways women friends talk can bring friends closer or pull them apart, but also how words can repair the damage done by words. She explains the power of women friends who show empathy and can just listen; how women use talk to connect - and to subtly compete; how fears of rejection can haunt friendships; how social media is reshaping relationships. Exploring what it means to be friends, helping us hear what we are really saying, understanding how we connect to other people; this illuminating and validating book gets inside the language of one of most women's life essentials - female friendships.

By the time ninth grade begins, Ishmael Leseur knows it won't be long before Barry Bagsley, the class bully, says, "Ishmael? What kind of wussy-crap name is that?" Ishmael's perfected the art of making himself virtually invisible. But all that changes when James Scobie joins the class. Unlike Ishmael, James has no sense of fear - he claims it was removed during an operation. Now nothing will stop James and Ishmael from taking on bullies, bugs and Moby Dick, in the toughest, weirdest, most embarrassingly awful - and the best - year of their lives.

Shortlisted for the APA Book Design Awards for Best Non-fiction 2013 It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife. Unless, of course, he's gay. Or has a girlfriend. Or is neck deep in twice weekly psychoanalysis and entirely unfit for public interaction. How does the modern day heroine find her way in a dating world where the rules change faster than she can update her status on Facebook, and there's not a single Georgian ballroom, empire-line dress or pantalooned man in sight? Intrepid former dater and award-winning journalist Amanda Hooton turns to the ageless wisdom of Jane Austen to solve the eternal dilemmas of romance: how to be as clever as Elizabeth Bennet, as dignified as Elinor Dashwood and as confident as Emma Woodhouse; how to avoid shagging Mr Wickham, marrying Mr Collins, or being dumped by Willoughby; and most importantly of all, how to find Mr Darcy, grapple him to your soul with hoops of steel, and become the part-owner of a country estate in Derbyshire. If you've ever wondered why your love life doesn't more closely resemble a Jane Austen novel, this is the book for you. Charming, laugh-out-loud hilarious and entirely empathetic, Finding Mr Darcy is a witty, street smart and, above all, wise approach to modern dating, which proves that some things - especially the pursuit of love - really are timeless.