Indie Author Magazine Featuring Darcy Pattison


Book Description

It's the start of a new year, and to celebrate, we're pulling together the best organizational and outlining strategies to set you on the path to success in 2023. Whether you're looking to recharge and reset with resolutions to protect your health or are ready to reach for the stars with your book sales, IAM has the tools you need to prepare for your best year yet. Read three key articles: ✓ Five Plotting Methods You Can Use in Your Daily Life ✓ The Daily Habits of Seven-Figure Authors ✓ Prosperity: Outlining Your Future as a Prosperous Writer You'll also meet Darcy Pattison, a children's author and publisher who formed her own publishing house and built her brand with the youngest readers in mind. The award-winning owner of Mims House aims to start conversations in her genre with every book she publishes. "I really try for excellence," she says. Plus: Our Sassy, Advice-Giving Aunt, ★ Indie Annie ★ Encourages an Author Who Worries Their Time to Publish May Have Passed How Your Characters' Needs Can Make Them More Human The Secret to Unlocking the Action-Adventure Genre Martelle's Motivation: The Rising Tide A Tale of Three Presses: Lessons in Finding A Path to Your Dream Publishing House What's Your Author Value Statement? How and Why to Change Your Mindset in 2023 Otter.ai: An Author's Starting Place for Speech-to-Text Software Ten Tips: Fiverr New Year's Resolutions Every Indie Author Can Set for a Healthier 2023 An In-Depth Look Back at Everything 20Books Vegas 2022 2023 Author Events to Mark on Your Calendar for the New Year




Nefertiti, the Spidernaut


Book Description

Read Along or Enhanced eBook: Most spiders spin a web and passively wait for prey to come to them. Jumping spiders, by contrast, actively hunt by jumping to catch their food. What if a jumping spider was sent to the International Space Station? When it jumped, it would simply float. No one knew if the spider could hunt in a weightless environment. This nonfiction picture book for elementary kids chronicles the amazing voyage of Nefertiti, the Spidernaut to the International Space Station and back. She’s a Phiddipus johnsonii, or Johnson jumping spider, native to western United States. Her colorful anatomy—red, black and teal—made for stunning photography and video. In 2012, Nefertitti clocked a record-breaking 100 days in space, during which time she circled Earth about 1584 times, traveling about 41,580,000 miles.




Eddie's War


Book Description

World War II. Hitler is threatening to take over the world. Eddie Carl thinks America should stop him-it's just plain right. But Eddie's just a kid, and the farm in Ellisville, Illinois, is a long way from the fighting. Ellisville: where the big news stories are gophers in the graveyard and the new bank alarm. But then America joins the war and Eddie's brother Thomas goes off to fly a bomber. Suddenly the war doesn't seem so far away. And Eddie faces more grown-up problems at home: A fire at the Strothers' place, and his gypsy friend accused of arson. Grampa Rob, all stubborn and mean. Grama Lucy with her secrets. And that redhead Sarah, who definitely likes him-unless maybe she hates him. Somehow Eddie's in the middle of it all, trying to figure out what's right. Let Thomas fight World War II. Eddie's war is right here in Ellisville. Eddie's War is a lyrical collection of prose vignettes linking Eddie, his family, and a small-town cast of Ellisvillians. Poignant and funny, this World War II story tells how a distant war affects the life of one boy in the Heartland.




One Amazing Thing


Book Description

An acclaimed novel by the author of The Mistress of Spices, and Before We Visit the Goddess. Jhumpa Lahiri praises: "One Amazing Thing collapses the walls dividing characters and cultures; what endures is a chorus of voices in one single room." Late afternoon sun sneaks through the windows of a passport and visa office in an unnamed American city. Most customers and even most office workers have come and gone, but nine people remain. A punky teenager with an unexpected gift. An upper-class Caucasian couple whose relationship is disintegrating. A young Muslim-American man struggling with the fallout of 9/11. A graduate student haunted by a question about love. An African-American ex-soldier searching for redemption. A Chinese grandmother with a secret past. And two visa office workers on the verge of an adulterous affair. When an earthquake rips through the afternoon lull, trapping these nine characters together, their focus first jolts to their collective struggle to survive. There's little food. The office begins to flood. Then, at a moment when the psychological and emotional stress seems nearly too much for them to bear, the young graduate student suggests that each tell a personal tale, "one amazing thing" from their lives, which they have never told anyone before. And as their surprising stories of romance, marriage, family, political upheaval, and self-discovery unfold against the urgency of their life-or-death circumstances, the novel proves the transcendent power of stories and the meaningfulness of human expression itself. From Chitra Divakaruni, author of such finely wrought, bestselling novels as Sister of My Heart, The Palace of Illusions, and The Mistress of Spices, comes her most compelling and transporting story to date. One Amazing Thing is a passionate creation about survival -- and about the reasons to survive.




The Nantucket Sea Monster


Book Description

Read Along or Enhanced eBook: Do you believe everything you read in the newspaper? Early in August 1937, a news flash came: a sea monster had been spotted lurking off the shore of Nantucket Island. Historically, the Massachusetts island had served as port for whaling ships. Eyewitnesses swore this wasn’t a whale, but some new, fearsome creature. As eyewitness account piled up, newspaper stories of the sea monster spread quickly. Across the nation, people shivered in fear. Then, footprints were found on a Nantucket beach. Photographs were sent to prominent biologists for their opinion. Discussion swirled about raising a hunting party. On August 18, news spread across the island: the sea monster had been captured. Islanders ran to the beach and couldn’t believe their eyes. This nonfiction picture book is a perfect tool to discuss non-political fake news stories. Back matter discusses the freedom of the press guaranteed by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Quotes from Thomas Jefferson make it clear that fake news has always been one of the costs of a free press. A Timeline lists actual events in the order they occurred. A vocabulary list defines relevant words.




Alone


Book Description

Originally published in hardcover in 2021 by Aladdin.




Catch That Cookie!


Book Description

Solve the riddles to find the runaway gingerbread men in this funny and magical cookie hunt! Marshall knows one thing for sure, despite what all the stories say: Gingerbread men cannot run. Cookies are for eating, and he can't wait to eat his after spending all morning baking them with his class. But when it's time to take the gingerbread men out of the oven . . . they're gone! Now, to find those rogue cookies, Marshall and his class have to solve a series of rhyming clues. And Marshall just might have to rethink his stance on magic. Catch That Cookie! is an imaginative mystery, deliciously illustrated by Caldecott Medal winner David Small. It's sure to inspire a new classroom tradition . . . and maybe even a few new believers!




I Want a Dog, 6-8 education language arts


Book Description

Hurrah for Essays! All writing lessons should be this much fun. Kids essay writing picture book. When cousins Dennis and Mellie decide to get a dog, they consider carefully what breed would be best for each family. For example, Dennis wants a big dog, but Mellie wants tiny. He has no other pets, but she has other pets that a dog must get along with. They consider different dog personalities, family situations, and personal preferences. Dennis writes an opinion essay for his teacher, Mrs. Shirky. But will his essay convince his parents to get the dog of his dreams? This story takes a popular subject—kids getting a pet—and adds dogs of all sizes and shapes: all writing lessons should be this much fun. In the end, it’s cousins and the dogs that keep a reader turning the page. What kind of dog will Dennis choose? Will Mellie want the same kind of dog? PRAISE FROM DOG EXPERTS “Darcy Pattison does a remarkable job on several fronts with her wonderful new book I Want A Dog: My Opinion Essay. She introduces the value of the written text at an early age to children. This cannot be emphasized enough in our early classrooms. With this comes an important lesson regarding the responsibility of owning and caring for a dog. As President of the Labrador Retriever Club representing the breed with the largest number of dogs I know how imperative responsible dog ownership is and Darcy does a wonderful job instilling this at an early age. This is a remarkable children’s book that has a lesson.” –Fred Kampo, President of the Labrador Retriever Club This story hits many notes: A family story about cousins, Dennis and Mellie Information on dog breeds Responsible dog ownership Mentor-text for teaching writing Model opinion essay for elementary students Models the writing process, especially the importance of pre-writing or planning before you write Completes the writing process by showing the results of Dennis’s essay I WANT A DOG almost makes opinion essays look too easy. See other books in THE READ AND WRITE series: I Want a Cat: My Opinion Essay My Crazy Dog: My Narrative Essay My Dirty Dog: My informative Essay




Electronic Communication Across the Curriculum


Book Description

This collection of 24 essays explores what happens when proponents of writing across the curriculum (WAC) use the latest computer-mediated tools and techniques--including e-mail, asynchronous learning networks, MOOs, and the World Wide Web--to expand and enrich their teaching practices, especially the teaching of writing. Essays and their authors are: (1) "Using Computers to Expand the Role of Writing Centers" (Muriel Harris); (2) "Writing across the Curriculum Encounters Asynchronous Learning Networks" (Gail E. Hawisher and Michael A. Pemberton); (3) "Building a Writing-Intensive Multimedia Curriculum" (Mary E. Hocks and Daniele Bascelli); (4) "Communication across the Curriculum and Institutional Culture" (Mike Palmquist; Kate Kiefer; Donald E. Zimmerman); (5) "Creating a Community of Teachers and Tutors" (Joe Essid and Dona J. Hickey); (6) "From Case to Virtual Case: A Journey in Experiential Learning" (Peter M. Saunders); (7) "Composing Human-Computer Interfaces across the Curriculum in Engineering Schools" (Stuart A. Selber and Bill Karis); (8) "InterQuest: Designing a Communication-Intensive Web-Based Course" (Scott A. Chadwick and Jon Dorbolo); (9) "Teacher Training: A Blueprint for Action Using the World Wide Web" (Todd Taylor); (10) "Accommodation and Resistance on (the Color) Line: Black Writers Meet White Artists on the Internet" (Teresa M. Redd); (11) "International E-mail Debate" (Linda K. Shamoon); (12) "E-mail in an Interdisciplinary Context" (Dennis A. Lynch); (13) "Creativity, Collaboration, and Computers" (Margaret Portillo and Gail Summerskill Cummins); (14) "COllaboratory: MOOs, Museums, and Mentors" (Margit Misangyi Watts and Michael Bertsch); (15) "Weaving Guilford's Web" (Michael B. Strickland and Robert M. Whitnell); (16) "Pig Tales: Literature inside the Pen of Electronic Writing" (Katherine M. Fischer); (17) "E-Journals: Writing to Learn in the Literature Classroom" (Paula Gillespie); (18) "E-mailing Biology: Facing the Biochallenge" (Deborah M. Langsam and Kathleen Blake Yancey); (19) "Computer-Supported Collaboration in an Accounting Class" (Carol F. Venable and Gretchen N. Vik); (20) "Electronic Tools to Redesign a Marketing Course" (Randall S. Hansen); (21) Network Discussions for Teaching Western Civilization" (Maryanne Felter and Daniel F. Schultz); (22) "Math Learning through Electronic Journaling" (Robert Wolfe); (23) "Electronic Communities in Philosophy Classrooms" (Gary L. Hardcastle and Valerie Gray Hardcastle); and (24) "Electronic Conferencing in an Interdisciplinary Humanities Course" (Mary Ann Krajnik Crawford; Kathleen Geissler; M. Rini Hughes; Jeffrey Miller). A glossary and an index are included. (NKA)




A Review of the Literature on Sexual Assault Perpetrator Characteristics and Behaviors


Book Description

"Sexual assault continues to be a pervasive problem, both for society in general and within the military community. To assist the Air Force in its continued efforts to combat sexual assault within its ranks, we reviewed the existing empirical literature on the characteristics and behaviors of adult perpetrators who commit sexual assault against other adults. Our search was not limited to studies of military populations. While a vast majority of the existing literature has focused on sole male perpetrators who assault female victims, we identified some research on other types of perpetrators, including female sexual assault perpetrators, men who perpetrate assault against other men, and perpetrators who participate in group sexual assault. This body of research indicates that adult perpetrators are diverse in terms of their demographics, background characteristics, and motivations. Moreover, research indicates that sexual assault perpetration is likely influenced by a combination of factors, including an individual's developmental and family history; his or her personality, including attitudes/cognitions; and environmental factors, including peer attitudes and alcohol consumption. The complexity of factors that influence sexual assault perpetration and the multiple pathways that lead to an attack make it difficult to predict whether an individual is prone to commit sexual assault. While predicting sexual assault perpetration is problematic, we identified a number of factors related to perpetration that may be relevant for intervention efforts and offer recommendations for the Air Force"--Publisher's web site.