Showing results by author "Christopher Francis" in All Categories

For mathematician Francis Su, a society without mathematical affection is like a city without concerts, parks, or museums. To miss out on mathematics is to live without experiencing some of humanity's most beautiful ideas. In this profound book, written for a wide audience but especially for those disenchanted by their past experiences, an award-winning mathematician and educator weaves parables, puzzles, and personal reflections to show how mathematics meets basic human desires - such as for play, beauty, freedom, justice, and love.

Riley Pickering knows he'll be the next Sidney Crosby, so it is expected everyone should cater to him, take care of his needs, and worship the ground he walks on. In addition, he has no patience for school, science, Mme. Capretta, the French language, or following rules. However, when a science project goes horribly wrong, Riley finds himself in the middle of the Pacific, stranded on an island scrambling to find ways to survive.

The following is a selection from three books that were published in 1894, 1910, and 1905 respectively by early pioneers who ventured into Tibet. They are Among the Tibetans, India and Tibet, To Lhassa at Last. Although as Westerners their perspectives are culturally bounded (and too often myopic), they each write vividly and occasionally with great insight about what they experienced in their travels. Sadly, however, two of the narratives are militaristic and we witness an unwanted invasion on behalf of the British to gain controlling interest in the region.

Do you hear strange noises in the night? Do you ever think there are monsters under your bed? Poor Oscar does, and it's causing him to have scary dreams. It's time for the Dream Catcher Rescue Squad to help. But what if the Moon Drifters get to Oscar first?

Trinity is lost in the forest, and she can't find her mother. It's up to the Dream Catcher Rescue Squad to guide her through this horrible nightmare. But what if they get lost as well?

Bailey wants his bad dreams to go away. It's time for the Dream Catcher Rescue Squad to step in. But how can they help when Bailey keeps waking up and sneaking down to the basement?

After hearing curious voices in her head, 12-year-old Aubrey discovers a boy sending cosmic video transmissions from the mirror inside her locker. She quickly learns his world is collapsing and desperately needs her help. Aubrey heroically jumps at the opportunity but quickly faces the harsh realities of the seventh grade: bullying, trumpet-solo band anxiety, zits, peer pressure, and the Othello-3 Dark Matter Beast. Will Aubrey be able to save the intergalactic boy from his crumbling planet, before it’s too late?

Abigail is having bad dreams again. It's time for the Dream Catcher Rescue Squad to help. But, can they get past the grouchy house cat and the thieving Moon Drifters? Time is running out!

Blinded by his love for Daisy Darlington, 12-year-old Alex Thomas is unable to see his social life, school, and town fall apart around him. While preparing for the school's annual Entrepreneurial Fair, Alex learns about the infamous Wesley Stone Sabotage: a student with paranormal connections who disappeared after an embarrassing practical joke ruined his project. Alex and Daisy soon realize his disappearance is connected to the strange outbreak that is destroying the town.

This book contains a critical essay/preface on the cultic nature of censorship in Roman Catholicism by David Christopher Lane, professor of philosophy at Mt. San Antonio College. The main body of the book is on the Roman Catholic Index of Forbidden Books, which banned such texts as Kant's Critique of Pure Reason and all books by David Hume. This text includes a list of banned books up to 1966. This is a fascinating glimpse into Catholic apologetics about how they justified censorsing books that are now considered classics.

Desperate to get a great mark on her 150-year anniversary presentation of Ottawa, Gauri sneaks into her dad's time machine with a boy from her class and travels back to 1867. Problems quickly unfold, leaving the two fifth graders trapped in the unforgiving elements of winter, struggling to stay alive.

Thinking the world is coming to an end, Bailey and Margaret watch a strange object hurtle from the sky. The two nervously investigate the mysterious crash and discover an alien has landed on earth. A teenage farm boy named Sheldon joins them as they try to help the lost creature return to its home. However, they soon realize this alien is not alone.

Haunted by a boy named Riley Grayson, 12-year-old Wesley is suddenly confronted by three things he fears the most in life: love, bullying, and ghosts. While on a grade-eight camping trip at Lake Stoneway, Wesley struggles with his fears, trying to find ways to get the attention of Michelle Heartly while stopping his best friend from picking on a new boy named Simon.

A coming of age early middle-grade story where a young boy deals with bullying, a deadly storm, a school crush, and a class project that greatly impacts an unlikely new friend. How far would you go to teach your school a lesson? If you’re 11-year-old Alex Thomas, you would risk embarrassment, humiliation, and even your life. When Alex learns how poorly the school’s custodian, Mr. Ravi, is being treated, he comes up with a brilliant plan.

I hated school. I hated everything about it. Mostly, I hated Corban Barkley, because he convinced my entire class I looked like an overgrown circus monkey - or something like that. Life was pretty miserable for me at Red Apple Creek Public School - that is until the Ogre-Beast came to visit - then my life totally changed.

Kaylee Cooper is certain that Alex will become friends with a ghost this year. Alex thinks that he is far too old to be listening to a little grade one and encourages Kaylee to stop jeopardizing his important sixth-grade social life. Kaylee doesn’t listen and finds awkward ways to spend as much time with Alex as possible, even if it means following him into the boy’s washroom. Fed up, Alex develops a strategic plan to ultimately get rid of Kaylee Cooper for good.

Caught between survival and the search for truth, Sheldon fights to reclaim his humanity in the face of alien deception. For ten years, Sheldon Hickory believed the alien intellect’s initial visit was friendly—one where the idealism behind their global encounter was a step toward Earth’s salvation. Yet, the second wave’s brutality shattered this ideal. Sheldon believed it was a virus that mutated their species and split their vision in two. This dichotomy allowed Sheldon to reconcile the horror with the hope, to see the violence as an unfortunate byproduct of a noble aim gone awry.

They infect the strong and healthy to use as hosts, leaving the rest of the human population to rot. Forced to drop out of school to support the family farm, Sheldon struggles to find anything positive to focus on his life—especially his drifting parents and social life. But when the ruthless aliens make their terrifying selections and the town is now under siege, Sheldon must focus on an escape plan. Desperate, and on the run, he assembles an unexpected group of friends, hoping to find answers—hoping to find help.

As a traitor to the human resistance, Sheldon attempts to abandon his simple farm life and newfound friends to fit in with this new alien movement. Proving to be more powerful than most of the infected, Sheldon is soon given important leadership roles–deciding if new human recruits are strong and healthy, or simply executed.

The infected teen, with the power to heal the sick and injured, is now given a pivotal role in the resistance against the powerful alien movement. But as a second wave of the extra-terrestrial forces cripples the coast and a bounty is put on him, Sheldon is forced into hiding. On the brink of a nuclear end-of-world counter strike, Sheldon and a small group of survivors frantically seek shelter. And, somehow, in the midst of war, Sheldon can’t help but find himself falling in love again–and the timing is terrible.