The Queen of Seagulls is a contemporary, refreshing picture book, suitable for all ages, and illustrated with expressive, bold artwork that is full of personality. It is written and drawn by Rūta Briede, a leading illustrator and instructor at the Latvian Academy of Arts.

Justine's trying to save the planet, one person and one cause at a time. Justine McKeen talks too much, bosses people around too much, and as everyone soon finds out, she tells the truth, but just not all at once. Best of all, when she decides to get something done, it involves a whole lot of laughter and fun for everyone.

One of the greatest modernist composers comes alive in this illuminating biography, a must-have for musicians and music-lovers alike. Francis Poulenc (1899–1963) is widely acknowledged as one of the twentieth century’s most significant masters of vocal music —solo, choral, and operatic— quite apart from his achievements in instrumental spheres. But what it cost him, and the determined bravery it took for his unusual talent to thrive, has always been underestimated. In this seminal biography, which will serve as the definitive guide to the songs, acclaimed collaborative pianist Graham Johnson shows that it is in Poulenc’s extraordinary songs, and seeing how they fit into his life —which included crippling guilt on account of his sexuality— that we discover Poulenc heart and soul. With Jeremy Sams’s vibrant new song translations, the first in over forty years, and the insight that comes from a lifetime of performing this music, Johnson provides an essential volume for singers, pianists, listeners, and readers interested in the artistic milieu of modernism in the first half of the twentieth century.

These take learning vowel sounds to the next stage. Vowel digraphs are introduced and high frequency words are interspersed throughout interesting stories that really put young children safely on the road to reading.

In the fall of 2005 acclaimed writer Mary Morris set off down the Mississippi River in a battered old houseboat called The River Queen, with two river rats named Tom and Jerry and an ailing, irascible rat terrier named Samantha Jean. Her father had just died. Her daughter had gone off to college. Lost and uncertain, Morris returned to the river of her youth, to the waterside towns where her father had once lived. In this poignant and often humorous memoir, Morris reclaims the world of her childhood as she gets a bearing on her future. She describes traveling down stream through the Midwest, living like a pirate as she survives a tornado and infestation of mayflies, bivouacs on beaches, and ties up to paddleboats in the dark of night. As she learns to pilot the River Queen through these fabled waters, Morris delivers a memoir that "deserves to be both a best-seller and a classic" (The Courier-Journal).

In this funny chapter book from the bestselling middle grade adventure series, a world traveling journalist mouse journeys to a fantasy world. I, Geronimo Stilton, was called to the Kingdom of Fantasy for the tenth time! A fairy princess had called me there. She needed my help: The most powerful and dangerous wizard in the realm wanted to capture her—and conquer the entire kingdom! The wizard was hunting for special magical objects to increase his powers—fairy dust to make him fly, the precious gold of the gnomes, the dazzling egg of fire, and more. It was up to me to foil his plans, with the help of magical friends new and old. Could we save the Kingdom of Fantasy? Praise for Geronimo Stilton’s books: “Lightning pace and full-color design will hook kids in a flash.” —Publishers Weekly