Nicky the cat visits the airport and goes on a plane ride.

It’s time for Nicky to visit the doctor, and thanks to Richard Scarry’s beloved Busytown characters, this checkup is an exciting adventure of discovery. From seeing how tall he is and having his eyesight checked, to listening to a heartbeat and getting a shot, Nicky—and other young children—will have their minds put at ease when they see that a trip to the doctor is nothing to be afraid of.

Nicky is a curious little cat who is always getting in trouble.

What drives a 13-year-old trapeze artist to run away from the circus? Marco Spolini seeks freedom from an overbearing father, critical stepmother and smothering uncle. A journey of discovery takes him from New York to Los Angeles across a 1980 America beset by economic and political frustration. Accompanied by a 15-year-old multiracial street kid named Jimmy Q and hunted by a relentless female private eye, Marco encounters a legless Vietnam veteran dealing drugs while writing country songs, a former porn star married to a televangelist, a widowed truck driver hauling a bizarre secret, a four-person softball team featuring three statuesque women, an Iranian refugee pursuing the American dream in New Mexico, an intellectual motorcycle gang and a California whose dark side matches its legendary sunshine. A Huckleberry Finn for our time, Flight of the Spumonis offers a satiric, moving look at an America in transition and the timeless human quest for community.

Nicky, the little kitten, is curious about the noises that keep him up.

"An exploratory journey through the airport"--

Nicky the cat meets several animal friends on his way to a picnic in the meadow.

James Patrick Wilbanks background, experience, and success in the arena of tennis, including playing and teaching, coupled with his creative mindset resulted in Game, Set, Match-Life, a novel that is set in the tennis world. It tells the story of a young tennis player named Nicky who began playing tennis at the early age of four. Many years later, he finds himself in a relationship with his girlfriend, Juli, and plans to play college tennis in Hawaii. However, geographical destruction and relationship demise weigh heavy on this young man's heart as he attempts to figure out his future. Sweeping changes in the tennis world may be a blessing in disguise. Will Nicky's dreams of college and pro tennis be realized?

'This great detective story tells of a doctor unprepared to accept conventional medical wisdom when he was fit only for palliation, and tenacious enough to search for answers elsewhere. This was the nastiest form of leukaemia, one so rare and unresponsive to conventional treatments that many are experimental. Mark was 67 at time of diagnosis. His remarkable story of survival reminds us that chronology is but one measure of age, and a poor one at that. Whatever eventuates in his life, he will be measured by his courage, conviction and single-mindedness.' - Professor Mathew Vadas, AO, Executive Director Centenary Institute of Cancer Medicine and Cell Biology 'Medico Mark Awerbuch is blessed with the writing style of an accomplished suspense novelist and this is a gripping narrative. He has T-cell lymphoblastic leukaemia. He knows too much, but none of his experience and connections helps. Instead, he finds himself on a perilous medical adventure. In this exposé and tale of endurance, the marathon runner becomes the marathon patient. I could not put it down.' - Samela Harris, journalist, critic, blogger 'Mark Awerbuch is a man of considerable accomplishment and the embodiment of resilience. He teaches us by example how to hold on to dreams, relationships, and hope when faced with the most trying of personal odysseys: a raging, prolonged battle with the angel of death that recruits a still incomplete modern medicine. I found myself cheering him on.' - Emeritus Professor Nortin M. Hadler, author of Rethinking Aging and By The Bedside of the Patient 'You will feel compelled to read on for insights from a medical insider who defied the grim predictions.' - Keith Conlon, writer, TV presenter, radio talkback host 'An insightful journey into what happens when a doctor becomes a patient and how a simple, chance meeting can change the course of a lifetime.' - Sophie Scott, National Medical Reporter ABC

A collection of short fiction, including an Edgar Award–nominated story, about hard-luck characters and the human instinct to survive. A survivor of Little Bighorn faces down the resulting trauma in the decades following the bloody battle. An old man who has lost his late wife’s cat joins forces with an unlikely partner to rescue abused animals. An ex–racecar driver contends with criminals in the midst of the famous Dakar Rally. Challenge the Widow-Maker is a collection of short stories about ordinary people facing extraordinary problems—and fighting back even when life has beaten them down. The title story took second place at Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine’s annual Readers Awards (another story by author Clark Howard won the top spot that year), and was nominated for an Edgar Award. Featuring characters who experience “one more chance at the brass ring: the gift of surviving another day,” this absorbing collection comes from an author whose work has appeared in The Best American Mystery Stories and other anthologies, and earned numerous honors from crime fiction critics and fans (Kirkus Reviews).