The Amazing Spencer Gray


Book Description

This is an adventure tale about resilience and agency—building one and realizing the other—and a survival story that will empower young people &‘We'll be on the ground shortly, Spence,' he said into his headset. &‘Thanks for coming up with me. Can't imagine a better flight companion.' Spencer grinned at him. &‘Don't lose it now, Dad. Get this thing back on the ground safe and sound, okay?' Spencer Gray is 12 and finally old enough to join dad in his glider. His friends are going to be so jealous! Going up is awesome, but when disaster strikes, Spencer will need to be nothing short of amazing.




The Spectacular Spencer Gray


Book Description

Spencer Gray is just an ordinary kid, but he manages to get in to some pretty extraordinary situations. Playing soccer at school with his mates he accidentally uncovers a sinister animal smuggling operation and rescues a super-endangered potoroo. But when the smugglers discover him trying to release the potoroo, he risks becoming super-endangered himself. Trussed up and left in the bush, he needs to use all his inner strength and ingenuity to break free and get help. With good friends and a great family to back him up, Spencer manages to triumph in the end. A page-turning adventure story for middle readers.




Rumple Buttercup: A Story of Bananas, Belonging, and Being Yourself


Book Description

The #1 New York Times bestseller written and illustrated by Matthew Gray Gubler. This charming and inspiring story is the perfect gift for kids (and grown-up kids) alike! Rumple Buttercup has five crooked teeth, three strands of hair, green skin, and his left foot is slightly bigger than his right. He is weird. Join him and Candy Corn Carl (his imaginary friend made of trash) as they learn the joy of individuality as well as the magic of belonging.




Mind-Melding Unity and Blender for 3D Game Development


Book Description

Add Blender to your Unity game development projects to unlock new possibilities and decrease your dependency on third-party creators Key FeaturesDiscover how you can enhance your games with BlenderLearn how to implement Blender in real-world scenariosCreate new or modify existing assets in Blender and import them into your Unity gameBook Description Blender is an incredibly powerful, free computer graphics program that provides a world-class, open-source graphics toolset for creating amazing assets in 3D. With Mind-Melding Unity and Blender for 3D Game Development, you'll discover how adding Blender to Unity can help you unlock unlimited new possibilities and reduce your reliance on third parties for creating your game assets. This game development book will broaden your knowledge of Unity and help you to get to grips with Blender's core capabilities for enhancing your games. You'll become familiar with creating new assets and modifying existing assets in Blender as the book shows you how to use the Asset Store and Package Manager to download assets in Unity and then export them to Blender for modification. You'll also learn how to modify existing and create new sci-fi-themed assets for a minigame project. As you advance, the book will guide you through creating 3D model props, scenery, and characters and demonstrate UV mapping and texturing. Additionally, you'll get hands-on with rigging, animation, and C# scripting. By the end of this Unity book, you'll have developed a simple yet exciting mini game with audio and visual effects, and a GUI. More importantly, you'll be ready to apply everything you've learned to your Unity game projects. What you will learnTransform your imagination into 3D scenery, props, and characters using BlenderGet to grips with UV unwrapping and texture models in BlenderUnderstand how to rig and animate models in BlenderAnimate and script models in Unity for top-down, FPS, and other types of gamesFind out how you can roundtrip custom assets from Blender to Unity and backBecome familiar with the basics of ProBuilder, Timeline, and Cinemachine in UnityWho this book is for This book is for game developers looking to add more skills to their arsenal by learning Blender from the ground up. Beginner-level Unity scene and scripting skills are necessary to get started.




Spencer's New Pet


Book Description

From the creator of Not Quite Narwhal comes a classic tale of a boy and his dog—except in this unique story, one of them is a balloon! When Spencer gets a new pet, he’s excited to do all the things that pets do—taking walks in the park, going to the vet, and attending parties together. There’s just one hitch: Spencer’s new pet is a balloon. And that means No. Sharp. Objects. No drooling dogs at the park. No prickly porcupines at the vet. And absolutely no pinning tails on any donkeys! Spencer’s New Pet is a story of pure fun about a boy, his dog, and a friendship that endures life’s sharpest...and most unexpected twists.




Gray for You


Book Description

Who auditions for an adult film without realizing it? Me, apparently... Gray: I'm not the kind of guy you take home to meet your mother. I'm an ex-adult film star with a GED and a giant co...llection of movie credits I can't talk about in polite company. I might be good at helping other guys get their happy endings, but I've more or less given up on finding one of my own. Until Tyler Lang walks into my life. That's right, my co-star for my final film is Tyler Lang--America's heartthrob, until he disappeared from the radar last year. Tyler's got a reputation for being a bad boy, a partier, and apparently straight, but the sweet, vulnerable-looking kid who shows up at auditions is completely different. And now that I'm getting to know him, I can't help wondering what it is that's made his eyes so sad--and wishing there were some way I could make it better. I'm not supposed to get a happy ending. So why the hell won't my heart listen? "I'm yours. In whatever way, for however long you want me. Just say the words and you'll have me forever." Tyler: I know what you've heard about me. Another spoiled child-actor, all grown up and out of control. I wish I could tell you you're wrong, but the truth is, I'm a little bit of a mess. Okay, so maybe I'm a giant mess. And now, after getting arrested with an ez-bake oven's worth of drugs I don't even remember buying, I'm washed-up at the grand old age of 21. After a year of rehab and community service, all I want is to work again. So when my agent sends me a new script, maybe I don't read the fine print as carefully as I should. Which is how I end up auditioning for an adult film. A high-brow, literary adult film. But still. There's no way I can go through with this. After all, I'm so deep in the closet I'm not sure I'll ever find my way out. And I wouldn't do this movie--except for one thing: Gray Evans. Strong, kind, and honest, Gray makes me feel seen in a way I've never been before--and makes me want to be better. And somehow, around Gray, everything seems possible. Like maybe there's a world where I'm not a total screw-up. Maybe there's a world where I can come out, and not tank my career. And maybe, just maybe, there's a world where Gray, who's smart and brave and so together, could want someone like me. Gray For You is Book 2 in the 8 Million Hearts series. While each book can be read on its own, they're even more fun to read together. Gray For You is a 150,000 word m/m romance full of snark, sweetness, and a healthy serving of steam. Movie star romance and hurt/comfort themes. No cheating, no cliffhangers, and a guaranteed HEA.




Have You Seen Ally Queen?


Book Description

At 15 years old, Ally Queen is uprooted from her comfortable city existence and dumped in a small town. Her mother, witness to a hit-and-run, is suffering from post-traumatic stress, and the quiet country life is supposed to improve her emotional state. Instead, the move just seems to make things worse—for Mom, for Ally, for everyone. Ally misses the way things used to be; she misses playing with her dad and little brother. But she's a teenager now, and teenage girls don't go fishing even if they really like it. When Ally meets Rel, she feels like she's hit rock bottom, but first impressions can be deceptive. As she starts to relax into herself, Ally finds life doesn't need to be as hard as she makes it. This is an absorbing and poignant story of first love and self-discovery for readers both young and old.




The Right Side


Book Description

In this "brilliant...deeply felt" (Stephen King) novel by the New York Times bestselling author of the Chet and Bernie mystery series, a deeply damaged female soldier home from the war in Afghanistan becomes obsessed with finding a missing girl, gains an unlikely ally in a stray dog, and encounters new perils beyond the combat zone. LeAnne Hogan went to Afghanistan as a rising star in the military, and came back a much lesser person, mentally and physically. Now missing an eye and with half her face badly scarred, she can barely remember the disastrous desert operation that almost killed her. She is confused, angry, and suspects the fault is hers, even though nobody will come out and say it. Shattered by one last blow—the sudden death of her hospital roommate, Marci—LeAnne finds herself on a fateful drive across the country, reflecting on her past and seeing no future. Her native land is now unfamiliar, recast in shadow by her one good eye, her damaged psyche, her weakened body. Arriving in the rain-soaked small town in Washington State that Marci called home, she makes a troubling discovery: Marci’s eight-year-old daughter has vanished. When a stray dog—a powerful, dark, unreadable creature, no one’s idea of a pet—seems to adopt LeAnne, a surprising connection is formed and something shifts inside her. As she becomes obsessed with finding Marci’s daughter, LeAnne and her inscrutable canine companion are drawn into danger as dark and menacing as her last Afghan mission. This time she has a strange but loyal fellow traveler protecting her blind side. Enthralling, suspenseful, and psychologically nuanced, The Right Side introduces one of the most unforgettable protagonists in modern fiction: isolated, broken, disillusioned—yet still seeking redemption and purpose. As Harlan Coben raves, this is "a great suspense novel, and so much more. You won't forget the heroic LeAnne Hogan—and the same goes for her dog! Not to be missed."




90 Packets of Instant Noodles


Book Description

Combining an engaging and confrontational story about growing up with a twist of adventure, this novel centers on Joel and Craggs, two loyal friends who drink together, commit robbery together, and, when Craggs turns violent, face the consequences together as well. When Joel's dad finally makes a deal with the cops, his son ends up in solitary confinement while Craggs is sent off to juvenile detention. Contending that the past is never truly buried, this tale portrays the influence of peer pressure on teenagers and both the positive and dangerous choices they must face.




Small Vices


Book Description

Ellis Alves is no angel. But his lawyer says he was framed for the murder of college student Melissa Henderson...and asks Spenser for help. From Boston's back streets to Manhattan's elite, Spenser and Hawk search for suspects, including Melissa's rich-kid, tennis-star boyfriend. But when a man with a .22 puts Spenser in a coma, the hope for justice may die with him...