Social Games

Simon, Michael, and Lily are playing on a multiplayer server when a strange lightning storm hits their town. In the middle of an intense game, a bolt of lightning strikes, sucking the three friends into the game! They discover that they've been transformed into their Minecraft characters. They try to escape, but they are trapped in the Overworld.

In the world of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, inspired by the lasting impact that books like Harry Potter have had on readers, Kimmy writes a book to help boys grow up to be good men.

The confidence, the dating sphere, and the girl: discover how to become an alpha male to attract the woman of your dreams. Are you trying to get a woman’s attention, but everything you do seems to fly right over her head, and you have no clue why? When you achieve the status of an alpha male, you will instantly become more popular with women, be the leader of the pack, and gain the charm to easily play the game of dating.

Kate craves adventure and excitement. Mia loves dresses, roses, and anything beautiful. Lainey dreams of talking to animals. Gabby believes in fairies more than anyone. In a blink of an eye, these four best friends all get their biggest wish - they're whisked off to Never Land, home to Tinker Bell and her fairy friends. The adventure of a lifetime is just beginning! But how will the Never Girls ever get home again?

With Ravenskill hosting this year's games, all eyes are on Seven Salazar, Valley Pepperhorn and Thorn Laroux: the most famous Spares in the Twelve Towns. Thorn is ready to compete as a fashion champion, but when a hex is used to turn her fellow champions to stone, suspicion lands on the Witchlings. As the Witchlings attempt to unravel the mystery of the stonifications, future Uncle Seven is harboring a dangerous secret: While she's supposed to be able to communicate with animals, the voices she hears most clearly belong to monstruos, and one spine-chilling voice is the loudest of all.

Whether it’s playing through blockbuster-esque adventures, diving deep into hidden bits of story and lore, or building relationships that change the fate of the world itself, video games are bringing stories to life in ways that are immediate, interactive, and immersive. Focusing on some of the best and most memorable experiences in gaming, The Greatest Stories Ever Played examines the relationship between gaming and storytelling in a new way.

Jonathan Rowson’s competitive success as a Grandmaster and his work as a philosopher of public policy have given him a unique perspective on why the great game is more important than ever for understanding the conflicts and uncertainties of the modern world. In 64 witty and addictive vignettes, Rowson takes us on an exhilarating tour of the game of life, from the psychology of gang violence, to the aesthetics of cyborgs, the beauty of technical details, and the endgame of death.

These three exciting chapter books feature some of your favorite Disney heroines on fun adventures as young girls.

Four sports. Four friends. In Game Face, each girl gets to narrate her own story, focusing on their sport of choice. Whether it’s a softball tournament or a hockey tryout, Rana, Maya, Alana, and Louie each face their weaknesses and find their strengths. They’ll confront the overwhelming pressure of sports and the ups and downs of friendships. But with focus, perseverance, and support, these middle-schoolers won’t just win the big game, they’ll win over listeners!

Corey plays a special role on his baseball team—he’s their first deaf player! He and the coach communicate on the field by using sign language. Will Corey help the Northfield Huskies win the game and go on to the championship?

Treasure hunters and protectors of the Overworld, Noah and Violet stumble upon a chest in a jungle temple. The treasure chest includes a rare enchantment book that can make diamond swords and armor extremely powerful. Daniel, who runs the powerful league of griefers, wants the enchantment book for himself. Noah and Violet have to battle the league of griefers, including the tricky and powerful rainbow griefers.

Gameknight999's true enemy has finally surfaced: Herobrine, an artificially intelligent virus that wants to escape Minecraft and destroy mankind with their own creation - the Internet. If he is able to escape the game and get online, Herobrine will infect millions of computer systems and turn machines and weapons on their masters, threatening all of humanity.

The goal of playing the great game of business has always been to find a way to teach the have-nots how the haves make it. It’s about creating and distributing wealth equitably as a way to close those gaps in wealth that plague our society. It’s about changing the game. We authored Change the Game for those of you who continue to seek a brighter side of capitalism - one that truly transforms lives for the better. This book is about hope: No matter how grim things look, you can make them better.

Life is boring: filled with meetings and traffic, errands and emails. Nothing we'd ever call fun. But what if we've gotten fun wrong? In Play Anything, visionary game designer and philosopher Ian Bogost shows how we can overcome our daily anxiety; transforming the boring, ordinary world around us into one of endless, playful possibilities. The key to this playful mindset lies in discovering the secret truth of fun and games.

In a televised social experiment before millions of viewers, police sergeant Derrick Levasseur demonstrated that techniques used by undercover detectives could help people achieve their goals in everyday social situations. The result: he walked away with more than half a million dollars. In The Undercover Edge, Derrick shares his personal mind-set surrounding human behavior and motivation. Even more than that, he provides easy yet groundbreaking tools acquired while overcoming personal adversity.

The world of Minecraft comes to life in this thrilling adventure! Gameknight999 loved Minecraft, but above all else, he loved to griefto intentionally ruin the gaming experience for other users. When one of his father’s inventions teleports him into the game, Gameknight is forced to live out a real-life adventure inside a digital world. What will happen if he’s killed? Will he respawn? Die in real life? Stuck in the game, Gameknight discovers Minecraft’s best-kept secret, something not even the game’s programmers realize.

Jude is determined to fly under the radar. He just wants to draw comics, host D&D night with his friends, work at his parents’ vinyl record store, and escape high school as unscathed as possible. That is, until the night he finds himself inexplicably gifted with a bout of supernatural good luck. Suddenly, everything Jude has ever wanted is within reach. His art is being published. He helps his friend’s song become a finalist in a songwriting competition. And he wins a pair of coveted concert tickets, which he can use to ask out the popular girl he’s been crushing on since elementary school.

In this riveting suspense thriller, two children race the clock to stop a futuristic murderer and his plan to enslave the world. In 30 days, a coldhearted corporate tycoon will unleash a deadly biological computer virus on the entire world. As the public eagerly awaits his invention that promises ultimate relaxation, harmony, and community, the evil big-business sorcerer plans to put an end to freedom. Can he be stopped?

Through the stories of gaming's greatest innovations and most-beloved creations, journalist Harold Goldberg captures the creativity, controversy - and passion - behind the videogame's meteoric rise to the top of the pop-culture pantheon. Over the last 50 years, video games have grown from curiosities to fads to trends to one of the world's most popular forms of mass entertainment.

In their runaway best seller Game Change, Mark Halperin and John Heilemann captured the full drama of Barack Obama’s improbable, dazzling victory over the Clintons, John McCain, and Sarah Palin. With the same masterly reporting, unparalleled access, and narrative skill, Double Down picks up the story in the Oval Office, where the president is beset by crises both inherited and unforeseen - facing defiance from his political foes, disenchantment from the voters, disdain from the nation’s powerful money machers, and dysfunction within the West Wing.