The story of Mai Ya Xiong and her family and their journey from the Ban Vinai refugee camp in Thailand to a new life in Madison, Wisconsin, is extraordinary. Yet it is typical of the stories of the 200,000 Hmong people who now live in the United States and who struggle to adjust to American society while maintaining their own culture as a free people. Mai Ya's Long Journey follows Mai Ya Xiong, a young Hmong woman, from her childhood in Thailand's Ban Vinai Refugee Camp to her current home in Wisconsin. Mai Ya's parents fled Laos during the Vietnam War and were refugees in Thailand for several years before reaching the United States. But the story does not end there. Students will read the challenges Mai Ya faces in balancing her Hmong heritage and her adopted American culture as she grows into adulthood.

Mai Ya's Long Journey by Sheila Cohen is the first book in the new Wisconsin Historical Society Press Badger Biography series designed for upper elementary and middle-school readers that explores the stories of Wisconsin people. Mai Ya's Long Journey relates the personal story of Mai Ya Xiong and her family. Their journey from the Ban Vinai refugee camp in Thailand to a new life in Madison, Wisconsin, is extraordinary, yet typical of the stories of the two hundred thousand Hmong people who now live in the United States and who struggle to adjust to American society while maintaining their own culture as a free people. The author, who has known Mai Ya since she was a student in her seventh-grade ESL (English as a Second Language) class, brings her personal perspective to this compelling story. Distributed for the Wisconsin Historical Society Press.

Maitreya's Ratnagotravibhaga, also known as the Uttaratantra, is the main Indian treatise on buddha nature, a concept that is heavily debated in Tibetan Buddhist philosophy. In A Direct Path to the Buddha Within, Klaus-Dieter Mathes looks at a pivotal Tibetan commentary on this text by Go Lotsawa Zhonu Pal, best known as the author of the Blue Annals. Go Lotsawa, whose teachers spanned the spectrum of Tibetan schools, developed a highly nuanced understanding of buddha nature, tying it in with mainstream Mahayana thought while avoiding contested aspects of the so-called empty-of-other (zhentong) approach. In addition to translating key portions of Go Lotsawa's commentary, Mathes provides an in-depth historical context, evaluating Go's position against those of other Kagyu, Nyingma, and Jonang masters and examining how Go Lotsawa's view affects his understanding of the buddha qualities, the concept of emptiness, and the practice of mahamudra.

Have you ever wondered all about poop? Why our bodies make such stinky goop? And where does it go after we wipe when the poop is flushed into a pipe? So begins the adventure of an inquisitive little boy and his charming dog as they discover how poop is formed and where it ends up. With humorous rhymes, children learn about the digestive system, septic tanks, sewage plants, and even proper bathroom etiquette. At the end of the book there's a bonus "Five Things to Remember About Poop" page as well as an educational poop trivia. Written by award-winning mum blogger Kate Hayes, this book will delight children (and parents) with its funny, yet educational, take on poop.