Eleven-year-old Warren is flip-flopping between trying to fit in at a new school and being the protective brother of Bennie, who has Down syndrome.

This “compelling” novel of three sisters—and the immigrant who invented the jigsaw puzzle—“captures the squalor and bustle of early 20th century New York” (The Miami Herald). Lively, beautiful Flora was sent to America from Germany by her family to find a better life. Brooding, studious Simon came from Lithuania with the same goal. An improbable match, they meet in New York City and fall in love. Simon—inventor of the first mass-market jigsaw puzzle—eventually makes his fortune. But now that they have achieved wealth, Flora and Simon become obsessed with rescuing those they left behind in Europe. Inspired by the author’s own family lore, and interweaving the stories of Flora’s two sisters, one the mistress of a wealthy WASP and the other struggling back in the old country, this is “a work of genealogical fiction from the late 19th century to the eve of World War II . . . It balances the Jewish immigrant experience in New York—both the achievement of the American dream and the curdling of it—against the insidious anti-Semitism of Germany and Eastern Europe” (Los Angeles Times). “Everybody loves an inspiring rags-to-riches story, and The Puzzle King delivers that in spades.” —San Francisco Book Review

This book surveys the labyrinthine relationship between Stephen King and American History. By depicting American History as a doomed cycle of greed and violence, King poses a number of important questions: who gets to make history, what gets left out, how one understands one's role within it, and how one might avoid repeating mistakes of the past. This volume examines King's relationship to American History through the illumination of metanarratives, adaptations, "queer" and alternative historical lenses, which confront the destructive patterns of our past as well as our capacity to imagine a different future. Stephen King and American History will present readers with an opportunity to place popular culture in conversation with the pressing issues of our day. If we hope to imagine a different path forward, we will need to come to terms with this enclosure—a task for which King's corpus is uniquely well-suited.

The Mortal Jigsaw puzzle follows the struggles of a heroic urban vice principal, as he attempts to control a large high school teetering on the verge of chaos. During the course of an infamous day known as Fat Lip Friday, the ghetto principal tries valiantly to keep control of his school in the midst of a full blown gang war. Immersed in an environment replete with urban music, violence, verbiage, and dress, the reader is bombarded with shocking images of life in the modern hood. As the visceral educational conflagration unfolds, the protagonist, Jose Perez, unexpectedly catches glimpses of a diabolical conspiracy of which street gangs are just a small part. Thanks to his keen senses, Mr. Perez slowly collects the pieces to a profoundly disturbing global puzzle comprised of codes, lyrics, art, and symbols of Egyptian, Masonic, and satanic origin. While attempting to place the gratuitous carnage and depravity of the inner city into perspective, Mr. Perez accidentally stumbles upon an interdisciplinary mind control plan which draws upon religion, politics, economics, psychology, marketing, history, and the occult. Alarmed by his findings, Mr. Perez warns his community of their pending doom, only to be hunted down by the very debt cattle whom he tries to save from oblivion. In the end, both his community and his nation are condemned to fall under this nefarious plot, as this educators quixotic mission abruptly ends with an ominous knock on his front door.

Steam Trains and Jigsaw Puzzles strikes most people as an intriguing title. The origin is simple,however my trainspotting youth has been synchronized with a later interest in jigsaw puzzles. The result is expensive I have a collection of over 250 jigsaws depicting British steam railways. The conclusion is impossible there are over 500 steam railway jigsaw puzzles to collect and they are being supplemented annually. The Liverpool & Manchester Railway marked the arrival of the true passenger railway service in 1830 and presented jigsaw manufacturers with another subject on which to focus. Prior to this date the jigsaw experience, started by John Spilsbury in c1760, was restricted to subjects such as religion, geography, history, monarchs, the alphabet and art. Many characteristics combine to form the basis of nostalgic images buried indelibly in the minds of people who travelled in the steam railway age. Manufacturers have not been slow to tap into this nostalgia and produce jigsaws aimed at stirring those memories and inviting people to reflect on past experiences, good, bad or indifferent. Chad Valley, Victory, Good Companion,Falcon, Waddingtons and Arrow are just a few manufacturers who produced steam railway jigsaws in the past. Most of these companies are now a distant memory while others are in foreign ownership. Equally famous names such as Wentworth, Ravensburger (Germany), House of Puzzles, Gibsons, JR Puzzles and King Puzzles (Holland) continue the manufacturing tradition. Output is generally superb thanks to the efforts of fine railway artists such as Terence Cuneo, George Heiron, T. E. North, Don Breckon, John Austin, Barry Freeman and Malcolm Root. The book is aimed at anyone with an interest in jigsaw puzzles and at those enthusiasts and aficionados who refuse to allow those evocative memories of the Golden Age of Steam to die.

NERDS combines all the excitement of international espionage with all the awkwardness of elementary school, and the results are hilarious. A group of unpopular fifth graders run a spy network from inside their school. With the help of cutting-edge science, they transform their nerdy qualities into incredible abilities! Their enemies? An array of James Bond–style villains, each with an evil plan more diabolical and more ridiculous than the last. Publishers Weekly raved: “Buckley has a flair for exaggerated humor.” School Library Journal said: “Funny, clever, and thoroughly entertaining.”

This book details the real-life experiences from the perspective of two parents trying to deal with the sorrows and struggles associated with having a child with autism. This book was written primarily to glorify our Savior. It raises the awareness of what it takes to live day to day with autism while attempting to have a normal family life. The book will also help parents in a similar position to realize their greater purpose and the special reason why they were blessed with a child with special needs. Above all, this book also acknowledges those people for the endless input, encouragement, and hard work in order to give Reuben and Mia the skills they need to have a full life here on earth.

Food Trucks Can Be Murderously Good Get a taste of murder and mayhem in four cozy mysteries. Birch Tree, Maine, is experiencing a rash of deaths, all mysteriously linked to food trucks that frequent the Birch Point Lake Park. Mey’s noodle truck was her ticket to a new life, until her ex-boyfriend threatens to take it away. Angel’s new donut truck was doing great, until deathly rumors started. Shanice thought she had customer support when taking over her grandpa’s potato truck, until one started complaining. Marisol’s taco truck is a fixture in the park, until linked to a food judge’s death. Could competition between vendors have led to this murder and mayhem?

The Complete Concordance is an entertaining and incredibly useful guide to Stephen King’s epic Dark Tower series by Robin Furth and features a foreword by Stephen King himself. The Dark Tower series is the backbone of Stephen King's legendary career. Eight books and more than three thousand pages make up this bestselling fantasy epic. The Complete Concordance covers books I-VII and The Wind Through the Keyhole and is the definitive encyclopedic reference book that provides readers with everything they need to navigate their way through the series. With hundreds of characters, Mid-World geography, High Speech lexicon, and extensive cross-references, this comprehensive handbook is essential for any Dark Tower fan. Includes: -A Foreword from Stephen King -Characters and Genealogies -Magical Objects and Forces -Mid-World and Our World Places -Portals and Magical Places -Mid-, End-, and Our World Maps -Timeline for the Dark Tower Series -Mid-World Dialects -Mid-World Rhymes, Songs, and Prayers -Political and Cultural References -References to Stephen King’s Own Work

The Buen Retiro, a royal retreat and pleasure palace, was built for Philip IV on the outskirts of Madrid in the 1630s. With its superb display of paintings by Vel zquez and other contemporary artists, the palace became a showcase for the art and culture of Spain's Golden Age. A Palace for a King, first published in 1980, provides a pioneering total history of the construction, decoration, and uses of a major royal palace, emphasising the relationship of art and politics at a critical moment in European history. produced on different aspects of the history of the palace and its decoration since the 1970s. A number of new, unpublished illustrations have been added, and many of the plates are now reproduced in colour. The publication of this edition gains added importance from the fact that plans for the expansion of the Prado Museum include the restoration of the Hall of Realms to approximate its original appearance, as reconstructed in this volume.