Jack and the Night Visitors


Book Description

Jack makes friends with Aliens.




The Night Visitor


Book Description

"A COMPLEX, CREEPY, AND INSIDIOUS NOVEL ABOUT AMBITION." --THE GUARDIAN "READERS OF RUTH WARE AND GILLIAN FLYNN WILL LOVE IT." --LIBRARY JOURNAL (STARRED REVIEW) "FASCINATING, BRILLIANT, CREEPY." --GOOD HOUSEKEEPING If you had the perfect life . . . how far would you go to protect it? Professor Olivia Sweetman has worked hard to achieve the life of her dreams, with a high-flying career as a TV presenter and historian, three children, and a talented husband. Only one other person knows that Olivia's perfect life is in fact a desperate tangle of lies: Vivian Tester, the socially awkward, middle-aged housekeeper of a Sussex manor who found the Victorian diary of a pioneering female surgeon on which Olivia's new biography is based. In a gripping narrative that shifts between London, Sussex, and the idyllic South of France, Olivia and Vivian will learn knife-edged truths about themselves and discover just how far each will go to protect her reputation.




Wonderfully Wordless


Book Description

Wonderfully Wordless: The 500 Most Recommended Graphic Novels and Picture Books is the first comprehensive best book guide to wordless picture books (and nearly wordless picture books). It is an indispensable resource for parents and teachers who love graphic storytelling or who recognize the value of these exceptional books in working with different types of students, particularly preschool, English as a Second Language (ESL), and special needs, and creative writers. Every age group will benefit from Wonderfully Wordless, from babies and toddlers encountering their first books, to elementary age children captivated by the popular fantasy and adventure themes, to teenagers attracted to graphic novels because of their more intense content and comic book format. Even adults who are not yet readers will benefit from this uniquely authoritative resource because it will provide a bridge to literacy and give them books that they can immediately share with their children. Wonderfully Wordless is the ultimate guide to wordless and almost wordless books. Its 500 exemplary titles are a composite of 140 sources including recommendations from reference books, award lists, book reviews, professional journals, literary blogs, and the collections of many of the most prominent libraries in the United States and the English-speaking world. The US libraries include the Boston Public Library, Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, Denver Library, New York Public Library, and Seattle Public Library, as well as the academic libraries at Bank Street College, Miami University, Michigan State University, Penn State University, Stanford University, and University of Chicago. The international libraries include the University of Oxford, British Council Library India, British Library, Hong Kong Public Libraries, National Library of the Philippines, Toronto Public Library, Trinity College Library (Dublin), Vancouver Public Library, and the National Library of New Zealand. The 500 books included here are generated from a database with 7,300 booklist entries. In essence, the ranked list emerging from this compilation will constitute “votes” for the most popular titles, the ones most experts agree are the best. By pooling the expertise from the US and other English-speaking countries, Wonderfully Wordless is an unrivaled core list of classic and contemporary titles. This authoritative reference book conveys not the opinion of one expert, but the combined opinions of a legion of experts. If a single picture is worth a thousand words, then a multitude of the picture-only texts is worth a compendium. Wonderfully Wordless is organized by theme and format and readers should have no problem zeroing in on their favorite topics. There are thirty-one chapters organized by topics such as Christmas Cheer, Character Values, Comedy Capers, Pet Mischief, Creative Journeys, Fascinating Fantasies, and Marvelous Mysteries. There is a full spectrum of wordless fiction and nonfiction, concept books, visual puzzles, board books, cloth books, woodcut novels, graphic novels, and more.




Learning to Write and Loving It! Preschool–Kindergarten


Book Description

"Learning to Write and Loving It! equips teachers of young children with practical strategies, assessment tools, and motivating writing activities that are based on current research and proven practice and are easily applicable to all kinds of learning environments. Included are many authentic writing samples and photos to illustrate effective, developmentally appropriate instructional methods, mini-lessons, and activities. Sought-after author and speaker Miriam P. Trehearne demonstrates how to scaffold play and literacy learning and how to easily link assessment to instruction. Key features: differentiate using effective instructional approaches for teaching writing and supporting inquiry and play; assess and document student writing seamlessly throughout the day; motivate and engage children in writing fiction (narrative), nonfiction, poetry, and song; enjoy learning with a powerful collection of vignettes from real classrooms, and use teacher-friendly guidelines for effectively integrating technology and selecting software for young children. A companion CD offers modifiable reproducibles, observation checklists, assessments, and projects for parents to do with their young children. Learn how to successfully scaffold writing, and, in the process, foster cross-curricular skills in science, social studies, and math. Research shows that writing provides a strong foundation for literacy development. Further, writing helps children express themselves, clarify their thinking, communicate ideas, and integrate new information into their knowledge base."--Publisher.




A Night in at the Opera


Book Description

Offering an arresting range of accounts by specialists in music, media, and popular culture on how the popular arts have represented opera, this book raises issues about the sociology of music and its implications for television and video culture.




A to Zoo


Book Description

Whether used for thematic story times, program and curriculum planning, readers' advisory, or collection development, this updated edition of the well-known companion makes finding the right picture books for your library a breeze. Generations of savvy librarians and educators have relied on this detailed subject guide to children's picture books for all aspects of children's services, and this new edition does not disappoint. Covering more than 18,000 books published through 2017, it empowers users to identify current and classic titles on topics ranging from apples to zebras. Organized simply, with a subject guide that categorizes subjects by theme and topic and subject headings arranged alphabetically, this reference applies more than 1,200 intuitive (as opposed to formal catalog) subject terms to children's picture books, making it both a comprehensive and user-friendly resource that is accessible to parents and teachers as well as librarians. It can be used to identify titles to fill in gaps in library collections, to find books on particular topics for young readers, to help teachers locate titles to support lessons, or to design thematic programs and story times. Title and illustrator indexes, in addition to a bibliographic guide arranged alphabetically by author name, further extend access to titles.




Before Words


Book Description

"Whereas most literacy assessments for children who do not yet read involve decoding and phonics skills, reading wordless picture books presents an opportunity to evaluate and encourage young children's comprehension and meaning-making skills and introduce them to narrative"--







Television Opera


Book Description

"This book contrasts the buoyant initial intentions of television's policy makers and creative advisers with the subsequent inability (for various reasons) to deliver as intended. The decline in the relationship between television and its commissioned operas is charted through three case studies: Menotti's Amahl and the Night Visitors (NBC), Britten's Owen Wingrave (BBC), and Gerald Barry's The Triumph of Beauty and Deceit (Channel 4) - the first a live broadcast, the second a video recording, and the third a filmed opera made for television."--Jacket.




The Read-Aloud Scaffold


Book Description

This compendium of outstanding read-aloud choices for grades pre-K–3 will enrich and extend content area instruction, helping busy teachers to meet curriculum requirements within the confines of their busy schedules. It's a familiar and unfortunate story: educators everywhere are being asked to do more teaching with less—less money, less staff, and less time. One easy way to provide more content area instruction to very young readers is by scaffolding beneficial learning subjects within memorable read-aloud activities. This augments the instructional curriculum and keeps learning fun—without adding to the educator's already-full plate. Read-Aloud Scaffold: Best Books to Enhance Content Area Curriculum, Grades Pre-K–3 offers teachers and librarians over 700 content area connections through carefully selected, recently published children's trade books. These selections include fiction and non-fiction titles that represent outstanding read-aloud choices that will augment the instructional curriculum, covering subjects ranging from history to holidays to special events, and from biographies and memoirs to poetry and character education. "A Closer Look" suggests outstanding read-aloud choices related to key units in the curriculum and features discussion points, cross-curricular activities, writing prompts, and related online and print materials.