Childhood and adolescence: They were the best of times, they were the worst of times, and some of each are captured in these three intriguing novellas. In Delinquency Lessons, young Wiley Reed is trucked with his family from the mountains of Eastern Kentucky up to Bound Brook, New Jersey where he finds flying slugs and forest fires, trash picking and first kisses, spearing and spear-chucking, before nearly learning one last lesson. The eponymous tale casts a pair of cardboard boxes and a row of pear trees in a bittersweet tale of love and loss for Wiley and his sister Beulah during one memorable Indian summer. In Enzo Januzzi Scores a Double-Header, Wiley's heavyset friend goes to college in the American south and discovers a new world of sacrifice flies and stolen bases, eventually helping the spirited women of the Gibson-Henry softball team to overcome an abusive coach and a provincial campus.

Since 1952, the social bases of the Democratic and Republican parties have undergone radical reshuffling. At the start of this period southern Blacks favored Lincoln’s Republican Party over suspect Democrats, and women favored Democrats more than Republicans. In 2020 these facts have been completely reversed. A Tale of Two Parties: Living Amongst Democrats and Republicans Since 1952 traces through this transformation by showing: How the United States society has changed over the last seven decades in terms of regional growth, income, urbanization, education, religion, ethnicity, and ideology; How differently the two parties have appealed to groups in these social cleavages; How groups in these social cleavages have become concentrated within the bases of the Democratic and Republican parties; How party identification becomes intertwined with social identity to generate polarization akin to that of rapid sports fans or primitive tribes. A Tale of Two Parties: Living Amongst Democrats and Republicans Since 1952 will have a wide and enthusiastic readership among political scientists and researchers of American politics, campaigns and elections, and voting and elections.

Joe and Rob are separated into two different classrooms in this fifth adventure in the hilarious Bots chapter book series. Many years ago, scientists on Earth sent video satellites out to the end of the universe to see what was hiding in deep space. Now, years later, these satellites have begun sending their first videos back to Earth...and the stars of the show are two goofy robots. When Joe and Rob are separated into two different classrooms, will their lives ever be the same? With easy-to-read language and graphic novel art on almost every page, the Bots chapter books are perfect for emerging readers.

Nurture Your Inner Artist Open yourself up to a new world of creativity and art exploration with this interactive guided journal. Amy Latta’s colorful prompts will help you let go of perfection and find joy in the process of art. Readers of Amy’s hand lettering books rave about her encouraging and friendly writing. Every time you open this book, she’ll be there to cheer you on through the ups and downs in your artistic journey, help you find that positive outlook and remind you of the value you bring to this world through the art that only you can make. Packed with bite-size guided exercises, inspirational quotes, bordered blank pages and personal stories from Amy’s life as a professional artist, this journal will empower you to embrace self-expression and to take new steps on your creative journey.

Every one of us lives in a box. This box determines what we see and what we do not see. It tells us who to love and hate. What to fight for. How to live. Who we are. Our boxes -- the collection of stories we tell about ourselves and the world -- create the human drama. Whether you become a pawn in this drama or take control of your destiny depends on the ability to answer two questions: Why is my box the way it is? How can I transform it? By examining the forces that have shaped your most deeply held beliefs, this book challenges you to think outside the box that society has provided for you ... ... and begin writing your own story.

This book defends the common sense view that there are no such things as fictional people, places, and things. It then creates an argument against fictional realism by finding the faults and problems with the fictional realism argument.

The global upswing in economic activity is strengthening. Global growth, which in 2016 was the weakest since the global financial crisis at 3.2 percent, is projected to rise to 3.6 percent in 2017 and to 3.7 percent in 2018. The growth forecasts for both 2017 and 2018 are 0.1 percentage point stronger compared with projections earlier this year. Broad-based upward revisions in the euro area, Japan, emerging Asia, emerging Europe, and Russia—where growth outcomes in the first half of 2017 were better than expected—more than offset downward revisions for the United States and the United Kingdom. But the recovery is not complete: while the baseline outlook is strengthening, growth remains weak in many countries, and inflation is below target in most advanced economies. Commodity exporters, especially of fuel, are particularly hard hit as their adjustment to a sharp step down in foreign earnings continues. And while short-term risks are broadly balanced, medium-term risks are still tilted to the downside. The welcome cyclical pickup in global activity thus provides an ideal window of opportunity to tackle the key policy challenges—namely to boost potential output while ensuring its benefits are broadly shared, and to build resilience against downside risks. A renewed multilateral effort is also needed to tackle the common challenges of an integrated global economy.

The latest World Economic Outlook reports signs that policy tightening is starting to cool activity despite core inflation proving persistent. Risks are more balanced as banking sector stress has receded, but they remain tilted to the downside. Monetary policy should stay the course to bring inflation to target, while fiscal consolidation is needed to tackle soaring debts. Structural reforms are crucial to revive medium-term growth prospects amid constrained policy space.

After strong growth in 2017 and early 2018, global economic activity slowed notably in the second half of last year, reflecting a confluence of factors affecting major economies. China’s growth declined following a combination of needed regulatory tightening to rein in shadow banking and an increase in trade tensions with the United States. The euro area economy lost more momentum than expected as consumer and business confidence weakened and car production in Germany was disrupted by the introduction of new emission standards; investment dropped in Italy as sovereign spreads widened; and external demand, especially from emerging Asia, softened. Elsewhere, natural disasters hurt activity in Japan. Trade tensions increasingly took a toll on business confidence and, so, financial market sentiment worsened, with financial conditions tightening for vulnerable emerging markets in the spring of 2018 and then in advanced economies later in the year, weighing on global demand. Conditions have eased in 2019 as the US Federal Reserve signaled a more accommodative monetary policy stance and markets became more optimistic about a US–China trade deal, but they remain slightly more restrictive than in the fall.