When Jake the dog is brought to the theater to watch his owner, chief stagehand for the Philharmonic Orchestra, work, he discovers a special musical talent all his own--stealing the show to everyone's surprise and amusement!

In his newest adventure, Jake is making a special visit behind the scenes of the ballet with Richie's friend Allegra. The rehearsals for The Nutcracker are underway, and Jake has so much fun learning the basics of ballet. Pretty soon, he's spinning and leaping just like the dancers. As the beloved holiday story comes to life on stage, Jake has a hard time keeping out of the action! With its delightful illustrations that capture the excitement and grace of The Nutcracker ballet, this encore to Jake the Philharmonic Dog takes readers along with Jake as he continues to explore the arts.

When Abby visits her aunt at the kennel where she works, she falls in love with the new poodle puppies-and one puppy in particular named Gem. Aunt Nancy invites Abby to help out at the kennel, and Abby's excited to work with the trainer, Wendell, teaching Gem all she needs to know to become a winning show dog. Soon it's the day of the biggest dog show of the year, and Abby and Gem will have to overcome the odds to show the judges that Gem is a true champion. Dog lovers, poodle fans, and anyone who enjoys dog shows will delight in this charming story that highlights the fun of competition and the love between a girl and her favorite pup.

Believe Your Ears is the memoir of composer Kirke Mechem, whose unorthodox path to music provides a fascinating narrative. He wrote songs and played music by ear as a newspaper reporter, a touring tennis player, and a Stanford creative-writing major before studying composition and conducting at Harvard. He describes his residencies in San Francisco, Vienna, London, and Russia, and gives detailed attention to his choral music, operas, and symphonies. He writes that “the twentieth century gave us much brilliant music” but shows how atonality came to dominate the post-war period. His lyric style belongs to no particular “school,” avoiding the trends, –isms, experiments, fads, and lunacies of the period. He encourages younger composers who are trying to bring back beauty, passion, and humor—even entertainment—to classical music. He asks music lovers to believe their own ears, not the lectures of “experts.” Believe Your Ears is addressed to all who love classical music. Along the way, readers will meet Dimitri Shostakovich, Wallace Stegner, Billie Jean King, the Grateful Dead, Richard Rodgers, Benjamin Britten, Bill Tilden, and Aaron Copland—a who’s who in Mechem’s storied career.

Revised and updated - includes Miyazaki's new masterpiece, The Boy and the Heron. Explore the films of magical Japanese animation masters Studio Ghibli in this film-by-film celebration for newcomers and long-time fans alike. Ghibliotheque reviews each Studio Ghibli movie in turn, in the voice of expert and newcomer. The lively text delves into production details, themes, key scenes and general reviews, as well as Ghibli-specific information. It's beautifully illustrated with stills and posters from each movie. Written by the hosts of the acclaimed Ghibliotheque podcast, this is the first and last word on the films of Studio Ghibli.

Are you a witless cretin with no reason to live? Would you like to know more about every piece of knowledge ever? Do you have cash? Then congratulations, because just in time for the death of the print industry as we know it comes the final book ever published, and the only one you will ever need: The Onion's compendium of all things known. Replete with an astonishing assemblage of facts, illustrations, maps, charts, threats, blood, and additional fees to edify even the most simple-minded book-buyer, The Onion Book of Known Knowledge is packed with valuable information -- such as the life stages of an Aunt; places to kill one's self in Utica, New York; and the dimensions of a female bucket, or "pail." With hundreds of entries for all 27 letters of the alphabet, The Onion Book of Known Knowledge must be purchased immediately to avoid the sting of eternal ignorance.