A twenty-year veteran of the classroom, elementary school teacher Phillip Done takes readers through a lively and hilarious year in the classroom. Starting with the relative calm before the storm of buying school supplies and posting class lists, he shares the distinct personalities of grades K-4, what he learned from two professional trick or treating 8-year-old boys, the art of learning cursive and letter-writing, how kindergartners try to trap leprechauns, and what every child should ex...

An essential guide for teachers and parents that’s destined to become a classic, The Art of Teaching Children is one of those rare and masterful books that not only defines a craft but offers a magical reading experience.After more than thirty years in the classroom, award-winning teacher Phillip Done decided that it was time to retire. But a teacher’s job is never truly finished, and he set out to write the greatest lesson of his career: a book for educat...

“Joyce Maynard is in top-notch form with Labor Day. Simply a novel you cannot miss.” —Jodi Picoult, New York Times bestselling author of My Sister’s Keeper and Keeping FaithIn a manner evoking Ian McEwan's Atonementand Nick Hornby's About a Boy, acclaimed author Joyce Maynard weaves a beautiful, poignant tale of love, sex, adolescence, and devastating treachery as seen through the eyes of a young teenage...

For a woman burned by love, a Blue Ridge Christmas is more than a getaway—it’s a new beginning—in the USA Today bestselling author’s romance novella.Stevie Franklin is thrilled to spend the holiday season helping her best friend Sunny launch her new greenhouse business in Blue Hollow Falls, Virginia. A visit to the quaint mountain town will be a welcome distraction from her recent bad luck with men. But while Sunny’s home is under renovation, Stevie must s...

Watch out Junie there's a new kid on the block! It's Freddy Thresher a first grader who knows it's a jungle out there. A new chapter book series written by an elementary teacher who's seen it all! Freddy Thresher has a problem: a really really big problem. He's the only one in his class who hasn't lost a tooth! All of the other students in Mrs. Wushy's first grade have signed their names on the Big Tooth and Freddy's determined to get his name on it too. So when Max "The Meanie" Sellars ca...

"She goes a long way with her book to prove that humor is the best -- possibly the only -- way to keep the world on an even keel."CHICAGO SUN-TIMESRemember the things Mother used to say? Erma Bombeck remembers them all and now she's using them on her own kids! With clever illustrations by Bil Keane, these really funny, too-true observations on family and kids and why it shouldn't work but does, is a wonderful antitdote to the daily problems and crises that every family faces....

Students and teachers will roar as Kenn Nesbitt pokes fun at silly school topics with dozens of wacky poems.Who knew school lunches and detention could be so funny? Kenn Nesbitt, that's who! Do you attend a school like the one Kenn Nesbitt describes in this hysterically funny collection of poems? There's a frenzied food fight in the cafeteria. For show-and-tell, kids burp the ABCs. Recently, "pet days" have been banned (and for good reason). And the funniest things...

When Jill McCorkle feels a short story coming on, she goes right ahead and "wastes" wonderful ideas instead of hoarding them for a novel. The result is another extraordinary collection of stories and characters. In "It's a Funeral! RSVP," the storyteller is a woman who takes up self-styled "careers" that suit her circumstances. Now she's stumbled onto one that's so successful that she just can't quit. It's planning funerals, what she calls Going Out Parties, in which the clients are the so...

Stermont's latest monster is a real scream!This series is part of Scholastic's early chapter book line called Branches, which is aimed at newly independent readers. With easy-to-read text, high-interest content, fast-paced plots, and illustrations on every page, these books will boost reading confidence and stamina. Branches books help readers grow!Alexander's class is going on a field trip to an amusement park. Everyone is excited -- until they find out they're going to SAFETY Lan...

A teenage girl's guide to handling life's problems, from how to be a better friend to dealing with parents and school.Be Who You Want to Be. Learn more about yourself and who you are and what makes you sad or made or happy. What do you like to do? What do you have to do? And how come some days are just so darned hard to get through? Sometimes it feels as if we just aren't smart enough to succeed, nice enough to be likes, or pretty enough for anything....

Christmas has a way of reminding us of what really matters–and what could be more important than our loved ones? From husbands and wives to boyfriends and girlfriends to long–lost loves, the real–life romances in this book are surrounded by the joy and blessings of the Christmas season.This collection will warm your heart and soothe your soul through the long winter. A Kiss Under the Mistletoe beautifully celebrates the way love and faith can transform a cold day in December into t...

Humorous and humiliating memories of an awkward childhood, sprinkled with hilarious family photographs and other memorabilia, from the author of The House of a Million Pets.Ann Hodgman is a funny lady. In How to Die of Embarrassment Every Day, she explains how she got that way. But the book only goes up through sixth grade. After that, her life became so embarrassing that writing it down would have caused the pages to burst into flames.