This rollicking and fascinating picture book biography chronicles the life of the first pioneer of children's books—John Newbery himself. While most children's books in the 18th century contained lessons and rules, John Newbery imagined them overflowing with entertaining stories, science, and games. He believed that every book should be made for the reader's enjoyment. Newbery—for whom the prestigious Newbery Medal is named—became a celebrated author and publisher, changing the world of children's books forever. This book about his life and legacy is as full of energy and delight as any young reader could wish.

Unassuming but formidable, American maritime insurers used their position at the pinnacle of global trade to shape the new nation. The international information they gathered and the capital they generated enabled them to play central roles in state building and economic development. During the Revolution, they helped the U.S. negotiate foreign loans, sell state debts, and establish a single national bank. Afterward, they increased their influence by lending money to the federal government and to its citizens. Even as federal and state governments began to encroach on their domain, maritime insurers adapted, preserving their autonomy and authority through extensive involvement in the formation of commercial law. Leveraging their claims to unmatched expertise, they operated free from government interference while simultaneously embedding themselves into the nation's institutional fabric. By the early nineteenth century, insurers were no longer just risk assessors. They were nation builders and market makers. Deeply and imaginatively researched, Underwriters of the United States uses marine insurers to reveal a startlingly original story of risk, money, and power in the founding era.

A moving and universal picture book about empathy and kindness, sure to soothe heartaches big and small—now a New York Times bestseller and a perfect gift for any special occasion When something sad happens, Taylor doesn't know where to turn. All the animals are sure they have the answer. The chicken wants to talk it out, but Taylor doesn't feel like chatting. The bear thinks Taylor should get angry, but that's not quite right either. One by one, the animals try to tell Taylor how to act, and one by one they fail to offer comfort. Then the rabbit arrives. All the rabbit does is listen . . . which is just what Taylor needs. With its spare, poignant text and irresistibly sweet illustration, The Rabbit Listened is about how to comfort and heal the people in your life, by taking the time to carefully, lovingly, gently listen.

Oliver Goldsmith arrived in England in 1756 a penniless Irishman. He toiled for years in the anonymity of Grub Street—already a synonym for impoverished hack writers—before he became one of literary London’s most celebrated authors. Norma Clarke tells the extraordinary story of this destitute scribbler turned gentleman of letters as it unfolds in the early days of commercial publishing, when writers’ livelihoods came to depend on the reading public, not aristocratic patrons. Clarke examines a network of writers radiating outward from Goldsmith: the famous and celebrated authors of Dr. Johnson’s “Club” and those far less fortunate “brothers of the quill” trapped in Grub Street. Clarke emphasizes Goldsmith’s sense of himself as an Irishman, showing that many of his early literary acquaintances were Irish émigrés: Samuel Derrick, John Pilkington, Paul Hiffernan, and Edward Purdon. These writers tutored Goldsmith in the ways of Grub Street, and their influence on his development has not previously been explored. Also Irish was the patron he acquired after 1764, Robert Nugent, Lord Clare. Clarke places Goldsmith in the tradition of Anglo-Irish satirists beginning with Jonathan Swift. He transmuted troubling truths about the British Empire into forms of fable and nostalgia whose undertow of Irish indignation remains perceptible, if just barely, beneath an equanimous English surface. To read Brothers of the Quill is to be taken by the hand into the darker corners of eighteenth-century Grub Street, and to laugh and cry at the absurdities of the writing life.

The story of a notorious New York eccentric and the journalist who chronicled his life: “A little masterpiece of observation and storytelling” (Ian McEwan). Joseph Mitchell was a cornerstone of the New Yorker staff for decades, but his prolific career was shattered by an extraordinary case of writer’s block. For the final thirty-two years of his life, Mitchell published nothing. And the key to his silence may lie in his last major work: the biography of a supposed Harvard grad turned Greenwich Village tramp named Joe Gould. Gould was, in Mitchell’s words, “an odd and penniless and unemployable little man who came to this city in 1916 and ducked and dodged and held on as hard as he could for over thirty-five years.” As Mitchell learns more about Gould’s epic Oral History—a reputedly nine-million-word collection of philosophizing, wanderings, and hearsay—he eventually uncovers a secret that adds even more intrigue to the already unusual story of the local legend. Originally written as two separate pieces (“Professor Sea Gull” in 1942 and then “Joe Gould’s Secret” twenty-two years later), this magnum opus captures Mitchell at his peak. As the reader comes to understand Gould’s secret, Mitchell’s words become all the more haunting. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Joseph Mitchell including rare images from the author’s estate.

Twelve-year-old Patsy keeps a diary of the ripe but confusing time following the end of the Civil War and the granting of freedom to former slaves.

This volume combines a wide variety of primary texts with critical readings, examines the texts within the context of critical debates, explores the ways in which children's literature combines instruction and entertainment, oral and written traditions, words and pictures, fantasy and realism, classics and adaptations, and perspectives on childhood and adult life. It spans a wide range of literary periods, genres, and cultural traditions, and examines how these overlapping forms and genres, diverse influences, and evolving values and attitudes towards children and childhood have shaped the body of literature written for young adults and children.

The 18th century was a wealth of knowledge, exploration and rapidly growing technology and expanding record-keeping made possible by advances in the printing press. In its determination to preserve the century of revolution, Gale initiated a revolution of its own: digitization of epic proportions to preserve these invaluable works in the largest archive of its kind. Now for the first time these high-quality digital copies of original 18th century manuscripts are available in print, making them highly accessible to libraries, undergraduate students, and independent scholars. The Age of Enlightenment profoundly enriched religious and philosophical understanding and continues to influence present-day thinking. Works collected here include masterpieces by David Hume, Immanuel Kant, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau, as well as religious sermons and moral debates on the issues of the day, such as the slave trade. The Age of Reason saw conflict between Protestantism and Catholicism transformed into one between faith and logic -- a debate that continues in the twenty-first century. ++++ The below data was compiled from various identification fields in the bibliographic record of this title. This data is provided as an additional tool in helping to insure edition identification: ++++ British Library T094733 York: printed for Wilson, Spence, & Mawman, anno, 1797. [3],6-95, [1]p.: ill.; 32°

The battles are won. The King's returned. All's right with the world. ...Isn't it? Arguably the most eventful year in the Middle Kingdoms since the ancient downfall of the Dark has finally drawn to an end, with the defeat of the resurgent Shadow and the re-establishment of peace and the royal magics that protect humankind in the Kingdoms from evil. You could be excused for thinking that the Five most responsible for this outcome-swordsmith and Firebearer Herewiss Hearn's son, his lover Prince (now King) Freelorn of Arlen, their lady the Companion of Dragons Segnbora tai-Enraesi, the DragonChief Hasai ehs'Pheress, and the fire elemental called Sunspark-would be entitled to some time off. As if. Because in the wake of the triumph and anguish of the battles' aftermath, after the celebrations and the declarations of peace, after the enthronement of the new King-and his wedding to the rest of the Five-come the day-to-day details of working out what normal life will now become for them, and their people, in the wake of the near-destruction of their world. Now the heroes who kept the world from ending have to help build the new normal... assuming they can work out what that looks like. In the novelette The Levin-Gad, to keep his family safe at a perilous moment, Herewiss sets out alone to undertake a risky secret mission in a most unlikely venue. A dive bar in Darthis becomes the setting for a deadly struggle with an old opponent... and for the entrance of a most unexpected ally. In the novel The Landlady, Segnbora must leave the art of motherhood behind to juggle the politically and personally hazardous business of resuscitating the fortunes of her diminished noble house-and finds herself revisiting an old and dangerous role: monster-hunter... The remaining three Tales of the Five will appear during 2022. Meanwhile, welcome back to the Middle Kingdoms!

Tom has spent most of his life locked behind the cruel walls of Weatherly Orphanage, but whenhe learns that his parents might still be alive, Tom knows he must do what he can to find them.He can't leave Weatherly without his best friend Sarah, so armed with a single clue to his past,the word Britfield, the two make a darling escape by commandeering a hot air balloon. Nowthey're on the run from a famous Scotland Yard detective and what looks like half the policeofficers in England. Tom and Sarah's journey takes them from Oxford University to WindsorCastle, through London, and finally to Canterbury. Along the way, they discover that Tom maybe the true heir to the British throne, but even with the help of two brilliant professors, it lookslike Tom and Sarah will be captured and sent back to the orphanage before they have a chanceto solve Tom's Royal mystery.