Spurred on by his best friend, twelve-year-old Thomas uncovers two major family secrets: that he was adopted, and that his perfect-seeming family is part of an other-worldly organization.

This volume is designed to give librarians and teachers guidance on the subject of adoption and foster care—both as themes in children's literature and as issues affecting many students. To help librarians and teachers gain a deeper understanding of this sensitive subject, Family Matters: Adoption and Foster Care in Children's Literature takes a close look at 115 works of children's literature that have themes related to adoption and foster care, including many that have received the Newberry Award, Caldecott Award, or other prestigious honors from the American Library Association. Family Matters is not just a digest of titles. It is an expert resource for addressing adoption and foster care in the classroom, both as a literary subject and as a personal issue with students. The book opens with an historical overview of adoption and foster care, then reviews level-appropriate titles by age group—K-grade 2, grades 3-5, and grades 6-8. Coverage includes discussions of the impact of adoption and foster care on normal development, as well as suggestions for safe language to use in the classroom, and fun, effective activities for each title.

In Celluloid Saviours, the author analyses a corpus of US films dating from the silent era that she calls film blanc. In these fantasy films a guardian spirit with extraordinary powers suspends the ordinary, known laws of time and space, and a main character reforms himself or herself in life-changing ways. The author argues that the historical pattern of film blanc relates to the rise and fall of liberal and reform thought in US politics, specifically to conceptions of human nature as a tabula rasa. This conception is evident both in the early feature films featuring angels such as Chaplin’s The Kid and much later examples such as the 1980s box office hit, Trading Places. She argues that this narrative tradition runs from Hollywood’s beginnings to the present day and is foreshadowed in the English ghost stories of Charles Dickens. The classic era of film blanc is epitomised in the enduringly popular film, It’s a Wonderful Life. More recent examples of narrative form analysed by Caston include The Truman Show and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.

Lycoming College, 1812-2012, is the story of the evolution of an educational institution through four stages of development in American education to become a strong liberal arts and science college in the present, one recognized by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching for its mission to sustain the liberal arts as the central feature of its academic program.

Science fiction is often considered the genre of ideas and imagination, which would seem to make it ideal for juveniles and young adults; however, the ideas are often dispensed by adults. This book considers the development of science fiction for children and teens between 1950 and 2010, exploring why it differs from science fiction aimed at adults. In a broader sense, this critical examination of 400 texts sheds light on changing attitudes toward children and teenagers, toward science education, and toward the authors' expectations and sociological views of their audience.

In The Curious Gardener, Anna Pavord brings together in 12 chapters - one from each month of the year - 72 pieces on all aspects of gardening. From what to do in each month and how to get the best from flowers, plants, herbs, fruit and vegetables, through reflections on the weather, soil, the English landscape and favourite old gardening clothes, to office greenery, spring in New York, waterfalls, Derek Jarman and garden design, Anna Pavord always has something interesting to say and says it with great style and candour. The perfect book to guide you through the gardening year and, on days when the weather keeps the most courageous gardener indoors, the perfect book to curl up with beside the fire.

Examines mystery writing, from how to get started to learning the tricks of the trade.

An examination of Major General Amos Horev and his pivotal role in shaping Israel's military and technological advancements through personal experiences and historical insights. This important memoir, translated into English for the author’s 100th birthday, tells the life story of Maj. Gen. (ret.) Amos Horev, a visionary leader whose contributions helped shape Israel’s growth across many fields. Rooted in memories of growing up in Jerusalem in the 1920s and ‘30s, where he built foundational friendships with other future leaders, such as Yigael Yadin, Uzi Narkiss, and Yohay Ben-Nun, Horev tells the story of Israel through the personal lens of his own experiences. One of the first Palmach commanders and deputy to Yigal Allon and Moshe Dayan during Israel’s War of Independence, he went on to shape the evolution of the Israel Defense Forces’ weaponry and logistics, later serving as president of the Technion—Israel Institute of Technology and chair of the board of Rafael, Advanced Defense Systems Ltd. In this autobiography, Retired Major General Amos Horev reveals the stories of the daily lives of the fighters and commanders in the Palmach—their failures, their successes, and most especially their motivation to fight to the end, even when the results were unknowable and the chances were slim. Through wars and missions, Amos remained a family man. He reveals another layer of his inner life when he speaks about Shoshana, his wife and the love of his life. Amos Horev’s life story, which he tells with candor and integrity, combines with the story of Israel, and the generation that broke the ground, for those who followed.