Presents the life of former Chicago mayor Richard M. Daley, making use of access to key players in his administration, as well as to Chicago's business and cultural leaders, to chronicle his political and personal evolution.

In one of the most unprecedented developments in the history of national politics, George W. Bush abruptly emerged to lead all presidential aspirants in the national polls for the 2000 election. Yet voters know very little about the man, beyond his famous name and his place in one of the nation's most powerful political dynasties. First Son is a true, riveting family saga about extraordinary power and politics in America and in the unharnessed state--a state of mind--called Texas. The story begins with the turn-of-the-century emergence of the influential Bush-Walker clan and of Prescott Bush, the Connecticut patrician who ingrained in his family an ethos that continues to exert influence on his son, former President George Bush, and his grandsons, George W. and Jeb. How these scions of the Bush dynasty struggle to live up to their enduring legacy is the central theme of this colorful and perceptive portrait the first authentative book on the governor of Texas. In the past year, award-winning Texas writer Bill Minutaglio has met with George W. Bush and interviewed dozens of people close to him, from his brother Governor Jeb Bush of Florida to uncles and cousins, from current and former political advisers to high-ranking insiders from his father's years in the White House. Fraternity buddies, political operatives, George W.'s employers, and even ardent critics of the Bush family bring this story to life--from the society circles in his native Connecticut to the family compound in Maine to the backwaters of his adopted Texas. The result is a book that is nuanced, insightful, and surprising in the contradictions and complexities it reveals about this man. First Son vividly reconstructs George W. Bush's boarding-school days at one of the country's most exclusive institutions; his tenure in one of Yale's secret societies and as president of his unfettered fraternity; his attempts to follow his family's million-dollar path into the wide-open Texas oil patch; his role in major league baseball as the public face and head cheerleader for the Texas Rangers; and, finally, his rise to governor of Texas and national political force, executed with more hard-edged calculation than many people realize. Written with precision, verve, and fair-minded balanace, First Son will be the political story of 2000--the eye-opening tale of a natural-born politician.

A Child's Garden of Verses is a collection of poetry for children by the Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson. The collection first appeared in 1885 under the title Penny Whistles, but has been reprinted many times, often in illustrated versions. It contains about 65 poems including the cherished classics "Foreign Children," "The Lamplighter," "The Land of Counterpane," "Bed in Summer," "My Shadow" and "The Swing." The classical scholar Terrot Reaveley Glover published a translation of the poems into Latin in 1922 under the title Carmina non prius audita de ludis et hortis virginibus puerisque.

With the same brilliant combination of humor and warmth she brought to bestseller Bird by Bird, Anne Lamott gives us a smart, funny, and comforting chronicle of single motherhood. It’s not like she’s the only woman to ever have a baby. At thirty-five. On her own. But Anne Lamott makes it all fresh in her now-classic account of how she and her son and numerous friends and neighbors and some strangers survived and thrived in that all important first year. From finding out that her baby is a boy (and getting used to the idea) to finding out that her best friend and greatest supporter Pam will die of cancer (and not getting used to that idea), with a generous amount of wit and faith (but very little piousness), Lamott narrates the great and small events that make up a woman’s life. "Lamott has a conversational style that perfectly conveys her friendly, self-depricating humor." -- Los Angeles Times Book Review "Lamott is a wonderfully lithe writer .... Anyone who has ever had a hard time facing a perfectly ordinary day will identify." -- Chicago Tribune

After a family tragedy, Professor Peterson, a scholar at University of Berkeley, California uprooted his family to move them to Oxford, England where he accepted a teaching position. Gabrielle “Gabby”, his four year old daughter is looking forward to visiting castles and meeting with royalties, but as Gabby matured, real life unfortunately turned her dreams into nightmares. Unexpected events within her own and her friend, Annie’s family, doomed to shape the outcome of her life. Gabby’s feelings of abandonment changes upon a chance meeting with a visiting American, James Newman. James is more than just a tourist and became a vital link to Gabby’s self-discovery of the meaning of a real family and true love. Is James the one who would bring the much and long desired happiness into Gabby’s life, or is he also just another step toward a new disappointment or betrayal? Not if James close relative, Russell Newman, or young Lord Chaffee had anything to say or do about that.

"The thought of organising yourself to take your children out for the day more than once a week fills you with fear? You've purchased art and craft material but only begrudgingly allowed your children to take it out of the box once? Your idea of roleplay is to stick on a DVD and 'pretend we're at the cinema'? Then please grab yourself a cup of lukewarm tea, pull up any chair that is not covered in toys or mashed banana and realise that you are not alone. I am a slacker mum; I'm out and I'm proud."A humorous and touching collection of stories and short writing covering many aspects of motherhood from birth to the first day at school.Includes the poems: 'Dear Teacher'. 'Nine Months' and 'I was going to be . . .' as well as four new poems such as 'The Mum Olympics' and 'Weaning by Limerick.'The perfect collection for all the mothers who sometimes wonder if they're doing it right.