This is a little tale of barnyard animals and the fun they have twiddling their tails on the Cranky Cricket Ranch. Everyone is not created the same, and this book is an enjoyable illustration of the fact that it is okay to be a little different. All the animals learn a special lesson that will influence them for the rest of their days.

The invisible man is the unnamed narrator of this impassioned novel of black lives in 1940s America. Embittered by a country which treats him as a non-being he retreats to an underground cell.

Based on a series of successful summer writing institutes, this book presents practical ways for teachers to reinvigorate their classrooms and their own attitudes toward creative writing. In four complementary sections focusing on four groups of writers--creative writers in residence, K-12 students and teachers who participated in the summer institutes, and established writers such as Ron Carlson and Scott Russell Sanders--the book demonstrates the enormous variety and high quality of writing that result when people use writing to discover what they want to say. After an introduction by Robert Fox ("The Experience of Writing: A Summer Institute"), the first section presents essays by Ohio writers in the schools; "Doing Our Own Possibility: Journal of a Residency at Columbiana County Head Start Centers" (Debra Conner); "Playwriting: A Teaching Approach Using the Stories of Our Lives" (Michael McGee London); "Just across the Street: The Story of a Teacher-Based Residency" (Lynn Powell); "Translytics: Creative Writing Derived from Foreign Language Texts" (Nick Muska); "How to Do a Poetry Night Hike" (Terry Hermsen); and "Reading to a Sky of Soba" (David Hassler). The second part presents poems, stories, and plays from 13 Ohio schools. The third part presents essays from participants in the experience of writing: "When Spirit Moves, Children Sing" (MaryAnn Titus); "Sudden Revelation: Fiction Writing in the Classroom" (Carl H. Krauskopf III); "A Year of Writing Workshop" (Mary L. Noble); "Word Works: Building a Community of Writers" (Janice M. Gallagher); and"Green Digits and Colons: Find Time to Write" (Barry Peters). The last section presents essays from experiences of writing faculty: "Turning the Desk" (Ron Carlson); "The Singular First Person" (Scott Russell Sanders); and "Reveling in the World: An Interview with Christopher Merrill on the Power of Language and Teaching" (Terry Hermsen). (RS)

More than twenty years in the making, Country Music Records documents all country music recording sessions from 1921 through 1942. With primary research based on files and session logs from record companies, interviews with surviving musicians, as well as the 200,000 recordings archived at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum's Frist Library and Archives, this notable work is the first compendium to accurately report the key details behind all the recording sessions of country music during the pre-World War II era. This discography documents--in alphabetical order by artist--every commercial country music recording, including unreleased sides, and indicates, as completely as possible, the musicians playing at every session, as well as instrumentation. This massive undertaking encompasses 2,500 artists, 5,000 session musicians, and 10,000 songs. Summary histories of each key record company are also provided, along with a bibliography. The discography includes indexes to all song titles and musicians listed.

Includes full descriptions of all Donald Duck, Mickey Mouse, Pluto, and Goofy cartoons; the story of Mickey's birth; the Disney Channel Premiere films and Disney television shows; the Disney parks; Disney Academy Awards and Emmy Awards; the Mouseketeers throughout the years; and details of Disney company personnel and primary actors.

More bling for the buck! The #1 guide to American slang is now bigger, more up-to-date, and easier to use This new edition of McGraw-Hill’s Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions offers complete definitions of more than 12,000 slang and informal expressions from various sources, ranging from golden oldies such as . . . golden oldie, to recent coinages like shizzle (gangsta), jonx (Wall Street), and ping (the Internet). Each entry is followed by examples illustrating how an expression is used in everyday conversation and, where necessary, International Phonetic Alphabet pronunciations are given, as well as cautionary notes for crude, inflammatory, or taboo expressions. This edition also features a fascinating introduction on “What is Slang?,” a Thematic Index that cross-references expressions by standard terms--such as Angry, Drunk, Food, Good-bye, Mess-up, Money, and Stupidity--and a Hidden Word Index that lets you identify and locate even partially remembered expressions and phrases.

Follow the historic 1953 statewide police investigation of polygamy called Operation Seagull as it leads to young Karen Hardy's Utah farm family. Karen is frightened of police following her family and is publicly humiliated when her first period begins during the sacred ceremony for baptizing the dead in the Salt Lake City temple. She finally tells her friend, "I wish I could be just a normal kid living in a normal place out in the world somewhere." Public shame and constant fear cloud her dreams of a life where she won't be punished for the sin of yearning for store-bought clothes, the sin of asking questions, the sin of resisting lies about polygamy, but most alarming, the sin of dodging the leering white haired prophet her family worships as the One Mighty and Strong and who is stalking her as his plural bride to be.