The love of family. The heartbreak of war. The triumph of coming home. 1940. Rural Wisconsin. Sixteen-year-old Earl “Earwig” Gunderman is not like other boys his age. Fiercely protected by his older brother, Earwig sees his town and the world around him through the prism of his own unique understanding. He sees his mother’s sadness and his father’s growing solitude. He sees his brother, Jimmy, falling in love with the most beautiful girl in town. And while Earwig is unable to make change for customers at his family’s store, he is singularly well suited to understand what other people in his town cannot: that life as they know it is about to change; the coming war will touch them all. For Jimmy will enlist in the military. And Earwig will watch his parents’ marriage buckle under the strain of a family secret. And when Jimmy returns–a fractured shadow of his former self–it is Earwig’s turn to care for him. His struggles to right the wrongs visited upon his revered older brother by war, women, and life are at once heartwarming and riotously funny. Their family and town irrevocably altered, Earwig and Jimmy fight to find their own places in a world changed forever.

"Set in a small, rural Alabama community during the height of World War II ... The main characters are two ten-year-old sons of sharecroppers--one black and one white. Amid the difficulties, deprivations, and disadvantages resulting from living on the bottom rungs of the economic ladder, they share a friendship that carries them through tough times and enriches their lives with joy. A terrible sequence of events threatens that friendship and rocks their world"--P. [4] of cover.

Ben Cohen’s dad didn’t know anything about the sport his young son had taken up, but he was happy to drive him to practice, and was soon helping out at the club. When his business went bankrupt money was tight, but Ben’s hard working parents inspired their son to put his all into rugby. Then, when Ben was 20, his father intervened in a fight in the nightclub where he worked. He was viciously beaten and one month later he died in hospital. Ben was doing an England press conference at the time, and it was down to coach Clive Woodward to deliver the devastating news. But the ordeal was far from over. The inquest lasted five months before the funeral could be held, and it was a year before the family were in court, facing Peter’s assailants. Ben put all of the anger and pain from his father’s death into his rugby. Fast and powerful on the wing, he was soon the best in the world in his position and a cornerstone of the England team, culminating in the legendary World Cup win in Sydney in 2003. And yet he always felt like an outsider. Most people didn’t know that Ben is clinically deaf. His sixth sense for the game got him through on the pitch, but off it his poor hearing was often taken for arrogance. This is an inspirational story of passion and pain; of the highs of achieving your goals, and the grief of losing something you can never get back.

You need only minimal playing skills and three chords-G, C, and D7-to accompany all the great songs in this innovative book. If you are just getting started, or if you are a casual player on a chording instrument, this is the perfect book for you. the book is absolutely bursting with a great variety of music: Old-time, bluegrass, gospel, Christmas, children's tunes, Stephen Foster, British and Celtic, cowboy, blues, and more. Because melody and lyrics are provided with every song, singers will also enjoy this wonderful collection of the world's favorite songs. Truly a book of outstanding arrangements, made playable for folks who play for their own enjoyment. (Some of these songs, like Dark Hollow and Way Downtown, are hard to find in print.) Guitar, uke, and five-string banjo diagrams are included for the three chords, along with tips on strumming and transposing tips for singers. an invaluable reference book for teachers and pros, too!

Now with a new afterword, the Pulitzer Prize-winning dramatic account of the civil rights era’s climactic battle in Birmingham as the movement, led by Martin Luther King, Jr., brought down the institutions of segregation. "The Year of Birmingham," 1963, was a cataclysmic turning point in America’s long civil rights struggle. Child demonstrators faced down police dogs and fire hoses in huge nonviolent marches against segregation. Ku Klux Klansmen retaliated by bombing the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, killing four young black girls. Diane McWhorter, daughter of a prominent Birmingham family, weaves together police and FBI records, archival documents, interviews with black activists and Klansmen, and personal memories into an extraordinary narrative of the personalities and events that brought about America’s second emancipation. In a new afterword—reporting last encounters with hero Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth and describing the current drastic anti-immigration laws in Alabama—the author demonstrates that Alabama remains a civil rights crucible.

From the international bestselling author of Red Herrings and White Elephants—a curious guide to the hidden histories of classic nursery rhymes. Who was Mary Quite Contrary, or Georgie Porgie? How could Hey Diddle Diddle offer an essential astronomy lesson? Do Jack and Jill actually represent the execution of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette? And if Ring Around the Rosie isn’t about the plague, then what is it really about? This book is a quirky, curious, and sometimes sordid look at the truth behind popular nursery rhymes that uncovers the strange tales that inspired them—from Viking raids to political insurrection to smuggling slaves to freedom. Read Albert Jack's posts on the Penguin Blog.

Jesus explains in His parable of the talents that your Heavenly Father God has endowed you with at least one special gift. Often He has blessed you with many more. His gift of love to you, however, is the most precious of them all. If godly love is your one talent, it is yours to continually refine throughout your life. In order to continually grow in godly love, God's Word must be your road map. God Loves You: Notes of His Love unearths truths about your Heavenly Father's love from Paul's description of godly love in his first letter to the Corinthians. In his letter he reveals its seven qualities. You will find in God Loves You: Notes of His Love that each chapter is dedicated to studying a quality of love. As you study each chapter you become a student of God's love. You investigate for yourself how to live an entire life of continual growth in ever-abounding love for your Heavenly Father God, your dear ones, and all humanity. After you devote your entire life to successfully studying and living godly love, you will appear before your Heavenly Father God. When He sees your soul beaming the seven qualities of godly love, He will tell you "Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your Master's happiness!"

With contributions from over 100 scholars, the Encyclopedia of American Poetry: The Nineteenth Centry provides essays on the careers, works, and backgrounds of more than 100 nineteenth-century poets. It also provides entries on specialized categories of twentieth-century verse such as hymns, folk ballads, spirituals, Civil War songs, and Native American poetry. Besides presenting essential factual information, each entry amounts to an in-depth critical essay, and includes a bibliography that directs readers to other works by and about a particular poet.

The Ghost Patrol got its name after being reported that all members were killed in the battle of Gettysburg. The Special Forces unit had gotten well-known for its successful raids on Yankee supply lines, either destroying them or carrying war materials to rebel camps. Now they were asked to attack supply trains and even to steal the whole train and bring it to the rebels who were in desperate need of all war supplies. Captain Sam, as his men liked to call him, was an excellent soldier. He handpicked his men and gave them special training. They were well-disciplined to fight hard and win. They could hit their targets hundreds of yards away with their long-range rifles. Captain Samuel Clifton was a plantation owner and a family man, who loved his beautiful wife and children. They loved to have parties where they were known for serving good food and having great entertainment.