TK's First Lesson is the first book in a series by author David Leija, designed to teach children about diversity. The book contains 18 full color illustrations by Stevie Cortez that truly bring this delightful story to life. Twin tiger cubs, TK and Toby, learn the value of their similarities and differences through their mother's wise teachings.

(Faber Piano Adventures ). Written for ages 5 and 6, My First Piano Adventure captures the child's playful spirit. Fun-filled songs, rhythm games and technique activities develop beginning keyboard skills. Three distinguishing features of the Lesson Book A make it unique and effective for the young 5-6 year old beginner. 1. A strong focus on technique embedded in the book through playful technique games, chants, and carefully-composed pieces that gently lead the child into pianistic motions. 2. An outstanding CD for the young student to listen, sing, tap, and play along with at the piano. The orchestrated songs on the CD feature children singing the lyrics, which has great appeal to the 5-6 year old beginner. The CD becomes a ready-made practice partner that guides the student and parent for all the pieces and activities in the books. 3. The fanciful art features five multi-cultural children who are also learning to play. These friends at the piano introduce basic rhythms, white key names, and a variety of white and black-key songs that span classical, folk, and blues. Young students will listen, sing, create, and play more musically with Nancy and Randall Faber s My First Piano Adventure, Lesson Book A. The Lesson Book introduces directional pre-reading, elementary music theory and technique with engaging songs, games, and creative discovery at the keyboard. Young students will enjoy the multi-cultural "friends at the piano" who introduce white-key names, basic rhythms, and a variety of songs which span classical, folk, and blues. Ear-training and eye-training are also part of the curriculum. The Fabers' instructional theory "ACE" - Analysis, Creativity, and Expression, guides the pedagogy of My First Piano Adventure. Analysis leads to understanding, creativity leads to self-discovery, and expression develops personal artistry. The CD for this book offers a unique listening experience with outstanding orchestrations and vocals. The recordings demonstrate a key principle of the course: when children listen, sing, tap, and move to their piano music, they play more musically. View Helpful Introductory Videos Here

"Intro to Poetry Writing is always like this: a long labor, a breech birth, or, obversely, mining in the dark. You take healthy young Americans used to sunshine (aided sometimes by Xanax and Adderall), you blindfold them and lead them by the hand into a labyrinth made from bones. Then you tell them their assignment: 'Find the Grail. You have a New York minute to get it.'"--The Poetry Lesson The Poetry Lesson is a hilarious account of the first day of a creative writing course taught by a "typical fin-de-siècle salaried beatnik"--one with an antic imagination, an outsized personality and libido, and an endless store of entertaining literary anecdotes, reliable or otherwise. Neither a novel nor a memoir but mimicking aspects of each, The Poetry Lesson is pure Andrei Codrescu: irreverent, unconventional, brilliant, and always funny. Codrescu takes readers into the strange classroom and even stranger mind of a poet and English professor on the eve of retirement as he begins to teach his final semester of Intro to Poetry Writing. As he introduces his students to THE TOOLS OF POETRY (a list that includes a goatskin dream notebook, hypnosis, and cable TV) and THE TEN MUSES OF POETRY (mishearing, misunderstanding, mistranslating . . . ), and assigns each of them a tutelary "Ghost-Companion" poet, the teacher recalls wild tales from his coming of age as a poet in the 1960s and 1970s, even as he speculates about the lives and poetic and sexual potential of his twenty-first-century students. From arguing that Allen Ginsberg wasn't actually gay to telling about the time William Burroughs's funeral procession stopped at McDonald's, The Poetry Lesson is a thoroughly entertaining portrait of an inimitable poet, teacher, and storyteller.

Alice Pung is a writer, editor, teacher and lawyer based in Melbourne. Born a month after her Chinese parents fled from Cambodia to Australia as asylum seekers from Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge Regime, Alice has used her shared family's experiences to write stories that captivate all readers. She has won numerous awards including the 2007 Newcomer of the Year Award in the Australia Book Industry Awards for her first book Unpolished Gem (Black Inc). Her next book, Her Father's Daughter (Black Inc), won the Western Australia Premier's Book Award for Non Fiction, and it was also shortlisted for the Premier's Literary Awards in Victoria and New South Wales, and nominated also in the Queensland Literary Awards. Laurinda, Alice's first novel, was published by Black Inc in 2014 and was one of Readings' Top 100 bestselling books for the year. In 2015 Alice will publish four books around the character Marly in Penguin's Our Australian Girl series. Alice's writing has appeared in many notable publications including the Monthly, the Age, Meanjin, Best Australian Stories and Best Australian Essays. Alice edited Growing Up Asian in Australia (Black Inc), a collection of personal accounts, essays, short stories and poetry which is currently a set text for the VCE English context on Identity and Belonging. Alice lives with her husband at Janet Clarke Hall at the University of Melbourne, where she is currently the Artist in Residence

When my dad dropped us off at the front gate, the first things I saw were the rose garden spreading out on either side of the main driveway and the enormous sign in iron cursive letters spelling out LAURINDA. No “Ladies College” after it, of course; the name was meant to speak for itself. Laurinda is an exclusive school for girls. At its secret core is the Cabinet, a trio of girls who wield power over their classmates - and some of their teachers. Entering this world of wealth and secrets is Lucy Lam, a scholarship girl with sharp eyes and a shaky sense of self. As she watches the Cabinet at work, and is courted by them, Lucy finds herself in a battle for her identity and integrity. Funny, feisty and moving, Laurinda explores Lucy’s struggle to stay true to herself as she finds her way in a new world of privilege and opportunity. Winner of the Ethel Turner Prize for Young People's Literature: 2016 NSW Premier's Literary Awards Shortlisted in the 2015 Indie Awards, 2015 Inky Awards, 2015 Australian Book Industry Awards, 2016 Barbara Jefferis Award, and the 2017 Young Australians Best Book Awards (YABBA). Longlisted for the 2015 Stella Prize. Notable Book of the Year for Older Readers, Children's Book Council of Australia 2015 ‘Biting yet compassionate’ —Books of the Year, Australian Book Review ‘Alice Pung totally nails it with Laurinda. Funny, horrifying, and sharp as a serpent’s fangs.’ —John Marsden ‘Pung continues to impress with her nuanced storytelling; Laurinda will surely resonate with anyone who remembers the cliquey, hierarchical nature of the playground.’ —Sunday Age ‘A candid and powerful exploration of family, culture and class ... it is those of us who take our fortune and privilege for granted that I wish would read this powerful book.’ —Readings Monthly ‘In her debut novel [Pung] successfully dramatizes the high stakes when an impoverished Chinese girl is parachuted into the private system ... Pung’s forceful writing reveals the diverse and often difficult lives of her immigrant compatriots too often hidden away from us by masks of discretion.’ —The Age ‘Based loosely on Pung’s own experiences, the book has an unmissable ring of truth to it, making it all the more compelling and horrifying.’ —Sydney Morning Herald “Schoolgirl Lucy Lam was one of this year’s best characters – smart, hardworking and brave. Pung tackles big issues with a light touch.’ —Herald Sun

From Grammy-winning musical icon and legendary bassist Victor L. Wooten comes an inspiring parable of music, life, and the difference between playing all the right notes…and feeling them. The Music Lesson is the story of a struggling young musician who wanted music to be his life, and who wanted his life to be great. Then, from nowhere it seemed, a teacher arrived. Part musical genius, part philosopher, part eccentric wise man, the teacher would guide the young musician on a spiritual journey, and teach him that the gifts we get from music mirror those from life, and every movement, phrase, and chord has its own meaning...All you have to do is find the song inside. “The best book on music (and its connection to the mystic laws of life) that I've ever read. I learned so much on every level.”—Multiple Grammy Award–winning saxophonist Michael Brecker