Meet Mulla Nasruddin, a legendary character whose adventures and misadventures are enjoyed across the Islamic world. This witty collection of stories portrays his eccentric, engaging and irreverent character. Nasruddin always has a twinkle in his eye, a sliver of wisdom in his ramblings and a few good surprises up his sleeve! AGES: 6 and up AUTHOR: Shahrukh Husain writes for both adults and children and is the author of THE BAREFOOT BOOK OF STORIES FROM THE OPERA. When she is not writing, Shahrukh practices as a psychoanalytic psychotherapist, specialising in transcultural work. Micha Archer has always loved the way words and pictures go together. Her illustrations are created using gouache, watercolour, pen and ink, and collage. She is influenced by her travels in West Africa, Mexico and Central America and the folk arts and crafts she saw there. She has also illustrated LOLA'S FANDANGO. REVIEWS: ". . . Husain's accessible and lively prose delivers satisfying morals that are rarely predictable; for example, when the Mulla concocts an inventive story to keep his pupils from eating his baklava and returns to find the plate empty, he praises a pupil who tells a tall tale of his own. Rendered in vibrant golds, greens, and blues, Archer's collages, created from a variety of papers and homemade stamps, seamlessly intermesh with the spirited vignettes" -- Publishers Weekly

You want ninety? Fine, I'll give you ninety. I'll give them to you coming and going. Teen rocker Ritchie Sudden is pretty sure his life has just jumped the shark. Except he hates being called a teen, his band doesn't play rock, and "jumping the shark" is yet another dumb cliché. Part of Ritchie wants to drop everything and walk away. Especially the part that's serving ninety days in a juvenile detention center. Telling the story of the year leading up to his arrest, Ritchie grabs readers by the throat before (politely) inviting them along for the (max-speed) ride. A battle of the bands looms. Dad split about five minutes before Mom's girlfriend moved in. There's the matter of trying to score with the dangerously hot Ravenna Woods while avoiding the dangerously huge Spence Proffer--not to mention just trying to forget what his sister, Beth, said the week before she died. Acclaimed author Sean Beaudoin's latest offering is raw, razor-sharp, and genuinely hilarious.

James VI and I, the first monarch to reign over Scotland, England and Ireland, has long endured a mixed reputation. To many, he is simply the homosexual King, the inveterate witch-roaster, the smelly sovereign who never washed, the colourless man behind the authorised Bible bearing his name, or the drooling fool whose speech could barely be understood. For too long, he has paled in comparison to his more celebrated Tudor and Stuart forebears. But who was he really? To what extent have myth, anecdote, and rumour obscured him? In this new and ground-breaking biography, James's story is laid bare and a welter of scurrilous, outrageous assumptions penned by his political opponents put to rest. What emerges is a portrait of Elizabeth I's successor as his contemporaries knew him: a gregarious, idealistic man obsessed with the idea of family, whose personal and political goals could never match up to reality. With reference to letters, libels and state papers, it casts fresh light on the personal, domestic, international and sexual politics of this misunderstood sovereign. 'A real page-turner for lovers of history' - Philippa Gregory

Written in a spirit of activism, the street plays in this collection explore gay identity politics in language that is pure theatre. The monologues, spoken by a single character, Jay, at different points in his life, use homosexual sex as the backdrop, even as they make a satirical comment on bourgeois lifestyle, unemployment, male prostitution, the angst of the homosexual subject, religion, and right wing politics.

Have you found yourself in circumstances you never envisioned, tangled up with people you never approved of, and doing things you never imagined? It seems impossible that the valedictorian of the entire human race would ruin his life by making dumb choices, but Solomon did. Solomon was better equipped to see through Satan’s deceptions than any man who has ever lived, other than Jesus. But in the end, he became just as blind to them as everyone else. Pay attention to the news and you’ll see that it’s not just the numbskulls that fall into Satan’s traps. It’s also the best and brightest of America’s fathers, husbands, and sons. Many smart guys who love God end up being ashamed and humiliated by Satan’s seductions. With humor, grace, and a pastor’s heart, Mark Atteberry seeks to offer practical suggestions on how to avoid a similar fate. His prayer for readers is to experience a wake-up call to move forward and determined on an upward path.

This book is an edited volume of works that have predominated over the past several decades in contemporary pastoral theology. Through the writings of nineteen leading voices in the history of pastoral care, Dykstra shows how each contributor developed a metaphor for understanding pastoral care. Such metaphors include the solicitous shepherd, the wounded healer, the intimate stranger, the midwife, and other tangible images. Through these works, the reader gains a sense of the varied identities of pastoral care professionals, their struggles for recognition in this often controversial field, and insight into the history of the disciple. Includes readings by: Anton T. Boisen, Alastair V. Campbell, Donald Capps, James E. Dittes, Robert C. Dykstra, Heije Faber, Charles V. Gerkin, Brita L. Gill-Austern, Karen R. Hanson, Seward Hiltner, Margaret Zipse Kornfeld, Bonnie J. Miller-McLemore, Jeanne Stevenson Moessner, Henri J. M. Nouwen, Gaylord Noyce, Paul W. Pruyser, Edward P. Wimberly.

Sufi Comics are short illustrations from Islamic traditions. It aims to simplify spiritual wisdom to help the reader to:* Inspire the soul with timeless quotes & stories* Find inner peace despite life's challenges* Apply practical advice to be happy & contentAlongside each comic are relevant verses from the Holy Qur'an.Sufi Comics makes the learning of spiritual teachings easy, fun & practical so that you can apply them to your life and share the wisdom with your family and friends.

One of the great treasures of Buddhist literature, is mDo-mdzangs-blun or the Sutra of the Wise and the Foolish as it is known to the Mongols. The text was translated to Mongolian from Tibetan as the Üliger-ün Dalai or Ocean of Narratives. It is one of the most interesting, enjoyable and readable Buddhist scriptures. For centuries, it has been an inexhaustible source of inspiration, instruction and pleasure for all who have been able to read it. The history of this unusual scripture is still uncertain. Legend has it that the tales were heard in Khotan by Chinese monks, who translated them (but from what language?) into Chinese, from which it was translated into Tibetan, then into Mongolian and Oirat. The Narratives are Jatakas, or rebirth stories, tracing the causes of present tragedy in human lives to events which took place in former lifetimes. The theme of each narrative is the same: the tragedy of the human condition, the reason for this tragedy and the possibility of transcending it. But unlike Greek tragedy, Buddhist tragedy is never an end in itself, i.e. a catharsis, but a call to transcend that which can be transcended and need not be endlessly endured. The people we meet in the Sutra of the Wise and the Foolish, although supposedly living in the India of the Buddha’s time, might also be living at present in New York City, a small rural town or Leningrad, and the problems they face are the same problems that men have had to face always and everywhere. Herein lies the timeless appeal of this profound Buddhist scripture.

When plain-looking Princess Rose longs for the beauty to snare handsome Prince Parsley, and the wise fool Jasper longs to restore wisdom to the kingdom, they end up working together and find they must face the magical Godmother Board of Trustees.