A rhyming romp of a tale about a badger and a band of bunnies. Lavinia the badger loves vegetables and tends her garden with care, but one morning she discovers that her lettuce has been nibbled and her potatoes and beans have disappeared! She decides to set a snare for the culprit, who turns out to be a frightened bunny. When Lavinia threatens to turn him into stew, the bunny pleads for his life, promising a rich reward if she lets him go. The next night, when the moon rises, Lavinia is amazed to see dozens and dozens of bunnies in her garden, carrying banjos, bassoons, harps, ukuleles, trumpets, bagpipes, fifes and drums. Night after night, the bunnies play enchanting music, and Lavinia’s vegetables grow and grow and grow. At the end of the season, Lavinia lays her table with a wonderful vegetable feast for the bunny band, who promise they’ll return in the spring. Once again, Bill Richardson and Roxanna Bikadoroff bring us a story full of old-fashioned charm and humor — a pure delight. Correlates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.1 Ask and answer questions about key details in a text. CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.2.4 Describe how words and phrases (e.g., regular beats, alliteration, rhymes, repeated lines) supply rhythm and meaning in a story, poem, or song.

When night falls, along comes a peculiar thief who steals each letter of the alphabet, creating a topsy-turvy world as she goes. The alphabet thief stole all of the B’s, and all of the bowls became owls… It seems that no one can stop her, until the Z’s finally send her to sleep so that all the other letters can scamper back to where they belong. Bill Richardson’s zany rhymes and Roxanna Bikadoroff’s hilarious illustrations will delight young readers with the silly fun they can have with language — and may even inspire budding young writers and artists to create their own word games. Correlates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.K.4 Ask and answer questions about unknown words in a text.

The life of jazz trumpeter Roland Bernard "Bunny" Berigan (1908-1942) resembles nothing less than an ancient Greek tragedy: a heroic figure who rises from obscurity to dizzying heights, touches greatness, becomes ensnared by circumstances, and comes to a disastrous early end. Berigan was intimately involved in the commercial music business of the 1930s and 1940s in New York City. Berigan was a charismatic performer, one of the few musicians in the history of jazz to advance the art. His trumpet artistry made a deep and lasting impression on almost everyone who heard him play, while the body of recorded work he left continues to evoke a wide range of emotions in those who hear it. Too often writings about the Swing Era skip over the interrelationship between the music business and the music that the giants of jazz created. In Mr. Trumpet: The Trials, Tribulations, and Triumph of Bunny Berigan, Michael Zirpolo takes on this difficult task, exploring connections between the business of music and contemporary music makers and the culture of social dancing that drove it all. Through detailed research and insightful analysis, Zirpolo rectifies many heretofore misunderstood events in Berigan's life and in the Swing Era more generally. In this panoramic examination of Berigan's personal and professional lives, Mr. Trumpet maps the great musician's role in what was a truly golden age of American popular music and jazz, offering close looks at some of his greatest performances and film work, comprehensive listings of all known broadcast recordings made by Berigan and his bands, as well as numerous previously unpublished photos of the great jazz artist.

The accomplishments of seminal jazz trumpeter Bernard "Bunny" Berigan have secured his place in the annals of American music history. In his short lifetime (1908--1942), Berigan performed on more than six hundred recordings and served as a direct link between Louis Armstrong and later musicians such as Dizzy Gillespie, Clifford Brown, and Wynton Marsalis. Berigan lent his uninhibited jazz style to the big bands of Benny Goodman, Hal Kemp, and Tommy Dorsey, and he was in demand as a studio musician for vocalists Billie Holiday, Bing Crosby, and Mildred Bailey. In addition to playing for the music industry's giants, Berigan became one himself by forming his own band in 1937 and recording his most famous hit and theme song, "I Can't Get Started." In the first comprehensive biography of Berigan, Robert Dupuis draws on hundreds of interviews with family, friends, and colleagues to present a fascinating and entertaining look at the fast-paced career and personal life of this jazz great.

Through the Forest of Sycamore trees where the path takes a turn and winds around to a beautiful glen, that's where The Bunny Berry Tales begin! Stories told throughout the years to children and grandchildren with love about the Bunny Family that lives in a home built of mud, straw, and love. As you read through these pages with a child on your lap, may Memory Lane and daydreams come to pass. As Wisdom is a gift from God in our hearts, may our children and all we hold dear hear the lessons learned today and throughout the years. So, remember the Fair, the sunshine, and the music of the band, welcome reader to Bunny Berry Land!

Hailed by many as the world's greatest harmonica player, John Popper has redefined the instrument. As the lead singer and principal songwriter of Blues Traveler, Popper has performed for more than 30 million people over 2,000 live dates and composed such radio staples as "Hook," "But Anyway," and "Run-Around," the longest-charting single in Billboard history. He has appeared with Eric Clapton and B. B. King at the White House, welcomed the Hungarian ambassador to the stage, and inducted Carlos Santana into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In Suck and Blow, Popper shares a candid, spirited account of his life and career. A straight-F student at Princeton High School, Popper's life changed with one serendipitous harmonica solo that captured the attention of his mercurial band teacher (the same teacher whose life was later fictionalized in the Academy Award-winning film Whiplash). After befriending three fellow musicians with whom he would form Blues Traveler, Popper's academic career nearly ended in twelfth grade, until a meeting with the Dean of the New School for Social Research in which Popper pulled out his trusty harp and played his way into college. Popper and Blues Traveler soon became enmeshed in the lower Manhattan music scene of the late 1980s, eventually becoming the house band at the fabled Wetlands Preserve and embarking on a journey that would one day land the group at Madison Square Garden on New Year's Eve. Along the way, Popper and his cohorts commanded the attention of fans and bands alike, through inspired performances and riotous debauchery. Popper's unique perspective on the music business began under the tutelage of Blues Traveler's mentor and manager Bill Graham. After the rock impresario's untimely passing, Popper applied many of Graham's lessons to the formation of the H.O.R.D.E. tour, which John co-owned and hosted over eight years, welcoming such artists as Neil Young, the Allman Brothers Band, Phish, Dave Matthews Band, Ziggy Marley, and his longtime friends the Spin Doctors. Popper also shares a forthright assessment of his longstanding battle with obesity. Plagued by weight problems since childhood, a motorcycle accident a few years into his career confined him to a wheelchair for two years while his weight ballooned to 436 pounds. Angioplasty, gastric bypass surgery, and a tattoo on his chest that reads "I Want to Be Brave" when viewed in the mirror are products of Popper's struggle, compounded by codependency issues and the untimely death of founding Blues Traveler bassist Bobby Sheehan. Popper's personal identity is entwined with his political passions. A staunch supporter of gun rights, he has performed at the National Republican Convention, yet he also maintains liberal positions on social issues. He will reconcile these views and share his encounters with the Bush family, the Clintons, the Gores, and other politicos. The iconoclastic, self-described Johnny Appleharp also dishes on cutting contests, Twitter trolls, party fouls, and prostitutes. In Suck and Blow, John Popper does it all with his signature honesty, humility, and humor. /DIV

Complete with encouraging testimonials, Zowie! includes countless practical resources including reproducible appendixes including Bible verse cards in English and Spanish, patterns, recipes, and contact information.

This is the colourful account of swing trumpeter Max Kaminsky’s life on the road in the formative years of jazz. Originally published in 1963, Kaminsky reminisces about playing with many notables, including Bix Beiderbecke, Fats Waller, Louis Armstrong, Gene Krupa, Artie Shaw, James P. Johnson, Bud Freeman, Pee Wee Russell, Artie Shaw and Jack Teagarden. A wonderful autobiographical work. “Max Kaminsky has written so realistically about the music world that you feel you, personally, were around for the whole great wonderful whirl!”—Jackie Gleason “I found My Life in Jazz absorbing reading and a true representation of the music and the people of the period.”—Bing Crosby

The feel-good book of the year for everyone who loves our planet and is looking for solutions. Fast, funny and inspiring, too. "This is the joy we need in our lives." - George Monbiot. "This book, practical and realistic as well as visionary, will keep that positive message before the reader's eyes. Joy is after all one of the best motivations we can have for change." - Dr Rowan Williams. Finally! A book about saving our planet that is fast, funny and inspiring too. Written in short chapters for busy people, Isabel doesn't bother with an examination of the problem but gets right on with the solutions. Her aim: to look for every single way we can take care of the planet; how we live and work, travel, shop, eat, drink, dress, vote, play, volunteer, bank - everything. And to do this wholeheartedly, energetically and joyfully. Beginning with losing her cool in a restaurant that will only provide plastic cutlery, Isabel journeys through native tree planting in the Highlands of Scotland, playing Samba drums with Extinction Rebellion, interviewing in person the people that supply her energy and food - through every solution she can find - until both narrator and reader are fully equipped to be part of the pollution solution. "She gave my spirit a lift and my feet somewhere to stand." - Sir Mark Rylance

From the concert stage to the dressing room, from the recording studio to the digital realm, SPIN surveys the modern musical landscape and the culture around it with authoritative reporting, provocative interviews, and a discerning critical ear. With dynamic photography, bold graphic design, and informed irreverence, the pages of SPIN pulsate with the energy of today's most innovative sounds. Whether covering what's new or what's next, SPIN is your monthly VIP pass to all that rocks.