Social Imagination

It's opening night of the school play and there are plenty of nerves to go around! There are lines to be memorized, costumes to sew, and sets to paint. It's a good thing Hattie Harmony is ready to help her friends soothe their worries with everything in her trusted tool belt. Will Hattie be able to settle the pre-show jitters before the curtain call?

Pete the Cat wants to go surfing, but he looks outside and - oh no! - it’s gray and rainy. Does Pete get sad? No, he doesn’t! Instead, he finds a really big and groovy box. Find out in this epic adventure just where Pete’s imagination takes him.

Sara Crewe is one of the most vivid figures in children's fiction. Born in India and sent to school in England, she is, at first, treated like a princess by the teacher, Miss Minchin. But when it is evident that Sara is not the possessor of a princess's fortune, she is dispatched to live in the attic and become a servant.

Pearl K. Ford Dowe argues that ambition for Black women cannot be measured only by political candidacies and ascents of the political chain of power. Black women are uniquely positioned within their communities to influence politics and public policy, which stems from unique variables of socialization, gender and racial identity, and marginalization that shape the political attitudes of Black women. Thus, Dowe asserts that Black women's political ambition often manifests outside formal politics, in activism and community building, a process that is linked to a wider radical vision.

Focusing on contemporary practices, The Culinary Imagination traces the social, aesthetic, and political history of food from myth to modernity, from ancient sources to our current wave of food mania. What does it mean to transform raw stuff into cooked dishes, which then become part of our own bodies; to savor festive meals yet resolve to renounce gluttony; to act as predators where in another life we might have become prey?

Congressman and Chairman of the Committee on Homeland Security, Michael McCaul, has spent years in Washington watching the administration turn a blind eye to the most pressing possible threats to the country. Now, in Failures of Imagination, McCaul turns away from the over-sensationalized, unrealistic fears circulated through the media in order to expose the most legitimate and looming national security threats, which have long been swept under the rug by the administration.

Learn how Travis escaped into his imagination in college to create the social relationships he desired. Would he be able to turn the relationships in his make-believe world into a reality in the real world? A shy awkward man, who would later be diagnosed as having Asperger Syndrome, Travis practices his approach to talking to Christy by escaping into his imagination and creating a make-believe world where he is successful at getting her to like him. Will Christy be accepting of Travis' courtship or will she turn him down leaving him devastated?

For more than 200 often turbulent years, Americans have imagined and described Cuba and its relationship to the United States by conjuring up a variety of striking images - Cuba as a woman, a neighbor, a ripe fruit, a child learning to ride a bicycle. One of the foremost historians of Cuba, Louis A. Perez Jr. offers a revealing history of these metaphorical and depictive motifs and discovers the powerful motives behind such characterizations of the island.

In this story the child is invited on a journey to a magical place. The narrator welcomes the child on a voyage that is complete with the theme of inclusion throughout. It is a place where peace and harmony reign supreme. “The Inclusive All” offers a standing invitation to the child. The child will learn that they can actively engage with literature that is also entertaining. This is story for all times of day because it is characterized by the freedom of joy and happiness.

Amen "Amie" McBee, the youngest of five sisters, gobbles up words the way other children gobble up sweets. She couldn't be more different from her elder twin sisters Arabella and Annabella, called the Bellas. The mischievous Bellas constantly frighten Amen with stories of Mr. Tominski, the old recluse who lives in the woods nearby and mysteriously tends to a flock of doves.

Josh Swensen (otherwise known as Larry) can't seem to get off the couch. His usual overactive imagination and save-the-world mindset have all but vanished, and his best friend Beth is seriously worried. When Beth coaxes Josh into taking a walk at Walden Pond, Josh meets Gus Muldarian, a spiritual guru who convinces him to join his study group as a way to find deeper meaning in life. Josh thinks Gus is a joke. Still, feeling desperate and seeing no way out of his rut, he agrees to try it.

Dash is not the most popular kid in school and often shunned by neighborhood kids. His peers call him different, weird, and other hurtful words. Grief and sadness are his closest friends. But all that is about to change when Dash hears his name whispered on the winds.

Experience the friendship that saved Christmas! Join Young Santa Claus and his delightful companions on another adventure as they journey deep into the Dark Wood where the Magic Thief dwells. They must find and retrieve the Scepter of Christmas before the magic of Christmas is lost forever. An unforgettable tale where the bond of friendship proves the most powerful magic of all.

The legislative attack on public sector unionism that gave rise to the uproar in Wisconsin and other union strongholds in 2011 was not just a reaction to the contemporary economic difficulties faced by the government. Rather, it was the result of a longstanding political and ideological hostility to the very idea of trade unionism put forward by a conservative movement whose roots go as far back as the Haymarket Riot of 1886. The controversy in Madison and other state capitals reveals that labor's status and power has always been at the core of American conservatism.

Bella loves the beach. She loves the flip and flop slap of her feet on the sand. She loves the crash, crash, crash of the ocean waves. And she loves the gentle shush, shush of the beach umbrella in the breeze. But a rainstorm hits and Bella’s perfect family beach day is ruined. This day is a rainy, awful mess! But maybe a little imagination, and a loving family, can show Bella that a beach day at home can be its own special kind of fun.

The audiobook girls want every boy to listen to! An eight-year-old girl's advice for annoying boys such as: lose the weirdness; don't mess with a girl's candy; stop making excuses.

Fly along with Wilhelmina, a fairy with a unique uni-brow. She wants to change the way she looks, but it's not that easy. In this meaningful poetic story, your child will learn that one of the most important things in life is to be grateful with what you've got....

Prepare to smile! Listen to this audiobook to your own inner child or to any child as told by a mom and her kids. Their darling voices will make you smile and lift your spirits. Keep this audiobook handy and listen to it often as a reminder of just how wonderfully precious is your child, inner or outer. Share it with others. This delightful set of poetic affirmations is great for children of all ages. So, come hear how wonderful it is to discover the answer to the question: "Who else can love you"?

Myths are usually seen as stories from the depths of time—fun and fantastical, but no longer believed by anyone. Yet, as Philip Ball shows, we are still writing them—and still living them—today. From Robinson Crusoe and Frankenstein to Batman, many stories written in the past few centuries are commonly, perhaps glibly, called "modern myths." But Ball argues that we should take that idea seriously. Our stories of Dracula, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and Sherlock Holmes are doing the kind of cultural work that the ancient myths once did.

This highly understandable audiobook offers a contemporary interpretation of the political thought of Edmund Burke, drawing on his experiences to illuminate and address fundamental questions of politics and society that are of particular interest today. In Edmund Burke for Our Time, Byrne asserts that Burke's politics is reflective of unique and sophisticated ideas about how people think and learn, and about determinants of political behavior.