“A truly exceptional book.”—Washington Post There's bad news and good news about the Cutter High School swim team. The bad news is that they don't have a pool. The good news is that only one of them can swim anyway. Bestselling author Chris Crutcher’s controversial and acclaimed novel follows a group of outcasts as they take on inequality and injustice in their high school. "Crutcher's superior gifts as a storyteller and his background as a working therapist combine to make magic in Whale Talk. The thread of truth in his fiction reminds us that heroes can come in any shape, color, ability or size, and friendship can bridge nearly any divide.”—Washington Post T.J. Jones hates the blatant preferential treatment jocks receive at his high school, and the reverence paid to the varsity lettermen. When he sees a member of the wrestling team threatening an underclassman, T.J. decides he’s had enough. He recruits some of the biggest misfits at Cutter High to form a swim team. They may not have very much talent, but the All-Night Mermen prove to be way more than T.J. anticipated. As the unlikely athletes move closer to their goal, these new friends might learn that the journey is worth more than the reward. For fans of Andrew Smith and Marieke Nijkamp. "Crutcher offers an unusual yet resonant mixture of black comedy and tragedy that lays bare the superficiality of the high-school scene. The book's shocking climax will force readers to re-examine their own values and may cause them to alter their perception of individuals pegged as 'losers.'"—Publishers Weekly An American Library Association Best Book for Young Adults New York Public Library Books for the Teen Age Features a new afterword by Chris Crutcher

Designed to exercise a particular thinking skill, each of these adorable learning tools will help students learn to think, write, and plan. Teach cause and effect with the Spider and the Caterpillar, ignite creative thinking with the Turtle, and much more. Sample lessons reveal how to use graphic organizers in language arts, science, social studies, and math.

Mowat's moving plea, based on actual events, to end commercial hunting of the whale.

Cathy, Nancy, and Mildred are on their way to Long Island to plan a triple wedding. When they try to meet with Georgia Hampton, a wedding planner who leads whale-watching tours, they discover her body upon her boat. Teaming up again, the trio investigate the crime. Suspects include Georgia’s sister who is a partner in their wedding planning business, an artist who is a naturalist and conducts whale-watching tours, several couples whose relationships ended after consulting with Georgia, and employees of the tour company. Reuniting with her great aunt after many years, Cathy learns that another suspicious death has occurred at Captain Sharp’s Whale Watching Tours. Can they solve the mystery, or will their efforts sail out to sea?

Intellectually and athletically gifted, TJ, a multiracial, adopted teenager, shuns organized sports and the gung-ho athletes at his high school until he agrees to form a swimming team and recruits some of the school's less popular students.

Untenable helps identify untenable situations, describes the barriers to addressing them, and suggests novel ways to approach them. Even the best of us can find ourselves enduring situations that are negative and unsustainable. Too often, we ignore the situation or just make incremental moves. The boiling frog considers installing a ceiling fan. The deck chairs are arranged on the Titanic. High-performing people can boost their own performance even further by developing their skills to identify and remove their untenable situations. Untenable situations at best sap our creativity, vitality, and energy, at worst; they can be serious threats to our well-being or health of our organizations. Untenable helps identify untenable situations, describes the barriers to addressing them, and suggests novel ways to approach them. This book is perfect for leaders who would like to be even more effective, see that effectiveness cascade into better organizational results, and would like to see their businesses grow. The author describes what untenable situations are, what they look like for leaders and organizations, and why we do not address them appropriately. The book contains useful and practical insights for leaders to help coach themselves and others to identify their untenable situations, remove barriers that may be preventing those situations from being addressed, and prevent untenable situations from occurring in the first place.

Literature Suppressed on Social Grounds, Revised Edition discusses writings that have been banned over the centuries because they offended or merely ignored official truths; challenged widely held assumptions; or contained ideas or language unacceptable to a state, religious institution, or private moral watchdog. The entries new to this edition include the Captain Underpants series, We All Fall Down by Robert Cormier, and Jake and Honeybunch Go to Heaven by Margaret Zemach. Also included are updates to the censorship histories of such books as To Kill a Mockingbird and Of Mice and Men.