McGonagall's Morning Musings


Book Description

Punctuation, and especially line breaks, causes an unconscious, momentary pause in our thought processes. This mental blink is when neural pathways reroute from merely reading and goes through the cognitive parts of our brain. This aids in comprehension and memory. Do your own research! With this realization I decided to begin breaking my essays down into verse, with the line breaks strategically placed to cause the reader to pause and ponder. It should be no secret that ADHD kids are quite often the smartest kids in the class, but get the lowest grades. This technique of breaking things down into smaller bits has had fairly dramatic and positive results for my students. I am frankly flabbergasted as to why Special Ed. teachers don't use this technique. Having said that, my verse is not the most horrible in the galaxy - the second worst, at best. I'm hiding under the McGonagall moniker from the Galactic Gendarmes who have declared jihad against my musings. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!




The Leveller


Book Description

Gamers and action fans of all types will dive straight into the MEEP, a virtual-reality gaming world, thanks to Julia Durango's cinematic storytelling. A touch of romance, constant twists, and a vivid, multidimensional journey through a tricked-out virtual city will keep readers flying through to the breathtaking end. Nixy Bauer is used to her classmates being very, very unhappy to see her. After all, she's a bounty hunter in a virtual-reality gaming world—and she's frequently hired by irritated parents to pull kids out of the mazelike MEEP universe. But when the game's billionaire developer loses track of his own son in the MEEP, Nixy is in for the biggest challenge of her bounty-hunting career. Wyn Salvador isn't some lazy kid looking to escape his homework: Wyn does not want to be found. And he's left behind a suicide note. Nixy takes the job but quickly discovers that Wyn's not hiding—he's being held inside the game against his will. But who is holding him captive, and why? Nixy and Wyn attempt to fight their way out of a mind game unlike any they've encountered, and the battle brings them closer than either could have imagined. But when the whole world is virtual, how can Nixy possibly know if her feelings are real?




Demon Mistress


Book Description

Menolly, Camille, and Delilah are the D'Artigo Sisters-half-human, half-Faerie operatives for the Otherworld Intelligence Agency. Their latest assignment is to root out the secret society responsible for unleashing chaos magic against the city-and to stop a demon from devouring Delilah's soul.




Understanding the Leitmotif


Book Description

Through analysis, Matthew Bribitzer-Stull explores the legacy of the leitmotif, from Wagner's Ring cycle to present-day Hollywood film music.




Reality Is Broken


Book Description

“McGonigal is a clear, methodical writer, and her ideas are well argued. Assertions are backed by countless psychological studies.” —The Boston Globe “Powerful and provocative . . . McGonigal makes a persuasive case that games have a lot to teach us about how to make our lives, and the world, better.” —San Jose Mercury News “Jane McGonigal's insights have the elegant, compact, deadly simplicity of plutonium, and the same explosive force.” —Cory Doctorow, author of Little Brother A visionary game designer reveals how we can harness the power of games to boost global happiness. With 174 million gamers in the United States alone, we now live in a world where every generation will be a gamer generation. But why, Jane McGonigal asks, should games be used for escapist entertainment alone? In this groundbreaking book, she shows how we can leverage the power of games to fix what is wrong with the real world-from social problems like depression and obesity to global issues like poverty and climate change-and introduces us to cutting-edge games that are already changing the business, education, and nonprofit worlds. Written for gamers and non-gamers alike, Reality Is Broken shows that the future will belong to those who can understand, design, and play games. Jane McGonigal is also the author of SuperBetter: A Revolutionary Approach to Getting Stronger, Happier, Braver and More Resilient.




The Indonesian Tragedy


Book Description

First published in 1978, The Indonesian Tragedy is a controversial book that argues that Indonesia’s lack of economic development is due to the blind attempt to force a Western economic model on a population, whose culture and psychology are unsuited to it. The author demonstrates the ‘Indonesian Tragedy’ not so much by argument, as by depicting the country as he experienced it day to day. In developing his conclusion, he draws on history, and the works of sociologists, some of whom he disagrees with. In this way he sheds light on the predicament of Indonesia and helps to illuminate a problem common to much of the Third World. This book will be of interest to students of history, sociology, journalism, and Southeast Asian studies.







Slippers and Thieves


Book Description

Years ago, Elle (never call her Cinderella) escaped her evil step family in order to build a new life for herself in Manhattan. Today, Elle's awful past is a distant memory. In fact, Elle even attends West Lake Prep, an exclusive high school where regular humans mix with members of the Magicorum, such as fairies, shifters and witches. Although she still must live in hiding from her evil step family, Elle always has found ways to get whatever her heart desires. That is, until Alec Le Charme. Sure, Alec is the heir to the Le Charme dynasty of high-end jewelers, but he's also kind, charismatic, and has a knee-melting smile. Long story short, Elle has fallen for Alec, hard. Unfortunately, thanks to Elle's evil step family, the Le Charme heir is absolutely off limits. In fact, if Elle and Alec so much as kiss, it could start a magical chain reaction that would end in powerful factions of witches and wizards going to war. As a result, Elle and Alec vow to stay friends, no matter what. Then West Lake Prep holds a masquerade ball. Identities get mixed up and forbidden kisses are finally shared. Time for the Magicorum to go to war, and for Elle to confront her hidden past in ways she never thought possible...




How to Read Literature


Book Description

DIV A literary master’s entertaining guide to reading with deeper insight, better understanding, and greater pleasure /div




Tithe


Book Description

Discover the dark and seductive realm of faerie in the first book of New York Times bestseller Holly Black’s critically acclaimed Modern Faerie Tales series, where one girl must save herself from the sinister magic of the fey courts, and protect her heart in the process. Sixteen-year-old Kaye is a modern nomad. Fierce and independent, she drifts from place to place with her mother’s rock band until an ominous attack forces them back to Kaye’s childhood home. But Kaye’s life takes another turn when she stumbles upon an injured faerie knight in the woods. Kaye has always been able to see faeries where others could not, and she chooses to save the strange young man instead of leaving him to die. But this fateful choice will have more dire consequences than she could ever predict, as Kaye soon finds herself the unwilling pawn in an ancient and violent power struggle between two rival faerie kingdoms—a struggle that could very well mean her death.