“There are lives lost in this book, and there are lives saved,too, if salvation means a young man or woman begins to feeldeserving of a place on the planet. . . . What could be moresoul-satisfying? These are the most influential professionals mostof us will ever meet. The effects of their work will lastforever.” –from the foreword by Anna Quindlen Now depicted in a bestselling book and a feature film, theFreedom Writers phenomenon came about in 1994 when Erin Gruwellstepped into Room 203 and began her first teaching job out ofcollege. Long Beach, California, was still reeling from the deadlyviolence that erupted during the Rodney King riots, and the kids inErin’s classroom reflected the anger, resentment, and hopelessnessof their community. Undaunted, Erin fostered an educationalphilosophy that valued and promoted diversity, tolerance, andcommunication, and in the process, she transformed her students’lives, as well as her own. Erin Gruwell and the Freedom Writerswent on to establish t

Mustang Designer tells the story of American wartime fighterdevelopment, including engines and armaments, as part of anationwide program of aircraft builders and fliers, focusing onEdgar Schmued, the designer of the Mustang. The P-51 Mustang iswidely regarded as the best propeller-driven fighter that everflew. What many might not realize is that the plane's developer wasa German migrant. This book tells of how Schmued created a weaponthat would ultimately prove lethal to the aspirations of those whohad seized control over his native land.

As an agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms,William Queen must tackle a number of challenging cases. In thewinter of 1985, he faces his toughest mission to date: He mustapprehend Mark Stephens, a notorious narcotics trafficker who hasbeen terrorizing the communities around Los Angeles with frequentrampages involving machine guns and hand grenades. A recluse livingin the treacherous backwoods outside the city, Stephens is a wilysurvivalist. Nobody has been able to catch him, but Queen isdetermined to take him down. Queen’s unique expertise is not taughtin any police academy or ATF training seminar–he honed hisoutdoorsman abilities as a kid. He is adept at hunting and trappingand living for weeks in the wild. Queen will use these skills–alongwith surveillance, confidential informants, and intelligencegathering–as he doggedly tracks his dangerous quarry, a chase thatculminates in a gripping showdown high in the San BernardinoMountains.

Book De*ion The "unwritten" final chapter of Anne Frank: The Diary of a YoungGirl tells the story of the time between Anne Frank's arrest andher death through the testimony of six Jewish women who survivedthe hell from which Anne Frank never retumed. From Publishers Weekly With approximately 30% more material than the original 1947edition, revealing a more rebellious and complex narrator, the newedition of Frank's classic diary spent five weeks on PW'sbestseller list. From School Library Journal Lindwer presents the tran*s of six in-depth interviewsconducted in preparation for his film documentary, The Last SevenMonths of Anne Frank . Although "Lies Goosens," real name HannahElisabeth Pick-Goslar, will be the most familiar to readers of AnneFrank: The Diary of a Young Girl , each of these women'sfirst-person accounts is compelling. They relate their backgrounds,their capture, details of the concentration camp experience, andde*ions of the time immediately following liberation. Eachincludes her relationship

What does it really mean to be a good father? What did yourfather tell you, that has stayed with you throughout your life? Wasthere a lesson from him, a story, or a moment that helped to makeyou who you are? Is there a special memory that makes you smilewhen you least expect it? After the publication of Tim Russert’s number one New York Timesbestseller about his father, Big Russ Me, he received anavalanche of letters from daughters and sons who wanted to tell himabout their own fathers, most of whom were not superdads or heroesbut ordinary men who were remembered and cherished for some oftheir best moments–of advice, tenderness, strength, honor,discipline, and occasional eccentricity. Most of these daughters and sons were eager to express thegratitude they had carried with them through the years. Otherswanted to share lessons and memories and, most important, pass themdown to their own children. This book is for all fathers, young or old, who can learn fromthe men in these pages

When Locke High School opened its doors in 1967, the residentsof Watts celebrated it as a sign of the changes promised by LosAngeles. But four decades later, first-year Teach for Americarecruits Rachelle, Phillip, Hrag, and Taylor are greeted by aschool that looks more like a prison, with bars, padlocks, andchains all over. With little training and experience, these four will be asked toproduce academic gains in students who are among the mostdisadvantaged in the country. Relentless Pursuit lays bare theexperiences of these four teachers to evaluate the strengths andpeculiarities of Teach for America and a social reality that hasbecome inescapable.

In May 1787, in an atmosphere of crisis, delegates met inPhiladelphia to design a radically new form of government.Distinguished historian Richard Beeman captures as never before thedynamic of the debate and the characters of the men who laboredthat historic summer. Virtually all of the issues in dispute—theextent of presidential power, the nature of federalism, and, mostexplosive of all, the role of slavery—have continued to provokeconflict throughout our nation's history. This unprecedented booktakes readers behind the scenes to show how the world's mostenduring constitution was forged through conflict, compromise, andfragile consensus. As Gouverneur Morris, delegate of Pennsylvania,noted: "While some have boasted it as a work from Heaven, othershave given it a less righteous origin. I have many reasons tobelieve that it is the work of plain, honest men."

Kelsey Byden is still reeling from her husband's affair-andgoing through a divorce-when a letter arrives that shakes her tothe core. It is from her mother, Naomi, whom Kelsey thought longdead. When she discovers the truth-that her mother is alive and hasjust been released from prison-Kelsey journeys to Naomi's horsefarm, and the two start the fragile process of getting to know eachother. It is there that she meets Gabe Slater, a handsome gamblerwho sets off a powerful reaction in her. But their newfoundrelationship will set in motion a shocking series of events thatputs Naomi's future--and Kelsey and Gabe's very lives--at risk.

Finally, homeschoolers have a comprehensive guide to designinga homeschool curriculum, from one of the country's foremosthomeschooling experts. , Rebecca Rupp presents a structured plan toensure that your children will learn what they need to know whenthey need to know it, from preschool through high school. Based onthe traditional pre-K through 12th-grade structure, Home LearningYear by Year features: The integral subjects to be covered within each grade Standards for knowledge that should be acquired by your child ateach level Recommended books to use as texts for every subject Guidelines for the importance of each topic: which knowledge isessential and which is best for more expansive study based on yourchild's personal interests Suggestions for how to sensitively approach less academic subjects,such as sex education and physical fitness

An electrifying memoir from the acclaimed Nicaraguan writer(“A wonderfully free and original talent”—Harold Pinter) andcentral figure in the Sandinista Revolution. Until her early twenties, Gioconda Belli inhabited an upper-classcocoon: sheltered from the poverty in Managua in a world of countryclubs and debutante balls; educated abroad; early marriage andmotherhood. But in 1970, everything changed. Her growingdissatisfaction with domestic life, and a blossoming awareness ofthe social inequities in Nicaragua, led her to join theSandinistas, then a burgeoning but still hidden organization. Shewould be involved with them over the next twenty years at thehighest, and often most dangerous, levels. Her memoir is both a revelatory insider’s account of the Revolutionand a vivid, intensely felt story about coming of age underextraordinary circumstances. Belli writes with both strikinglyricism and candor about her personal and political lives: abouther family, her children, the men in her life; about her po

Esteemed historians of education David Tyack, Carl Kaestle,Diane Ravitch, James Anderson, and Larry Cuban journey throughhistory and across the nation to recapture the idealism of oureducation pioneers, Thomas Jefferson and Horace Mann. We learn how,in the first quarter of the twentieth century, massive immigration,child labor laws, and the explosive growth of cities fueled schoolattendance and transformed public education, and how in the 1950spublic schools became a major battleground in the fight forequality for minorities and women. The debate rages on: Do today'sreforms challenge our forebears' notion of a common school for allAmericans? Or are they our only recourse today? This lavishly illustrated companion book to the acclaimed PBSdocumentary, School, is essential reading for anyone who caresabout public education.

One day in Ventura, California, Jonell McLain saw a beautifuldiamond necklace in a jewelry store window and wondered: Why arepersonal luxuries so plentiful yet accessible to so few? What if weshared what we desired? Several weeks, dozens of phone calls, andone great leap of faith later, Jonell and twelve other women boughtthe necklace together–to be passed along among them all. The dazzling treasure weaves in and out of each woman’s life,reflecting her past, defining her present, making promises for herfuture. Lending sparkle in surprising and unexpected ways, thenecklace comes to mean something dramatically different to each ofthe thirteen women. With vastly dissimilar histories and lives,they transcend their individual personalities and politics to jointogether in an uncommon journey–and what started as a quirky socialexperiment becomes something far richer and deeper.

In 1960 the government of Trinidad invited V. S. Naipaul torevisit his native country and record his impressions. In thisclassic of modern travel writing he has created a deft andremarkably prescient portrait of Trinidad and four adjacentCaribbean societies–countries haunted by the legacies of slaveryand colonialism and so thoroughly defined by the norms of Empirethat they can scarcely believe that the Empire is ending. In The Middle Passage , Naipaul watches a Trinidadian movieaudience greeting Humphrey Bogart’s appearance with cries of “Thatis man!” He ventures into a Trinidad slum so insalubrious that thelocals call it the Gaza Strip. He follows a racially chargedelection campaign in British Guiana (now Guyana) and marvels at theGallic pretension of Martinique society, which maintains thefiction that its roads are extensions of France’s routesnationales. And throughout he relates the ghastly episodes ofthe region’s colonial past and shows how they continue to informits language, politics, a

This important book by one of our leading experts on disasterpreparedness offers a compelling narrative about our nation’sinability to properly plan for large-scale disasters and proposeschanges that can still be made to assure the safety of itscitizens. Five years after 9/11 and one year after Hurricane Katrina, it ispainfully clear that the government’s emergency response capacityis plagued by incompetence and a paralyzing bureaucracy. IrwinRedlener, who founded and directs the National Center for DisasterPreparedness, brings his years of experience with disasters andhealth care crises, national and international, to an incisiveanalysis of why our health care system, our infrastructure, and ouroverall approach to disaster readiness have left the nationvulnerable, virtually unable to respond effectively to catastrophicevents. He has had frank, and sometimes shocking, conversationsabout the failure of systems during and after disasters with abroad spectrum of people—from hospital workers an

A Step-by-Step Guide to Healing Your Heart and RebuildingYour Marriage Discovering that your husband has beenunfaithful can be emotionally devastating, leaving you reeling inpain and confusion. But take heart—this survival guide for womenoffers compassionate and practical solutions for coping with theaftermath of an affair. Drawing on their years of experience asprofessional therapists, authors Marcella Bakur Weiner and Armand DiMele explain how to heal the marriage bond andrestore trust between partners. Written with empathy andunderstanding, this book addresses such vital topics as: ·Coming to terms with the sense of loss and betrayal ·Coping with feelings of suspicion and the specter of "the otherwoman" ·Dealing with the children during and after the affair ·Understanding character traits of men who have affairs—and howdifferent women's personalities interact with them ·Finding the best sources of emotional support Also included are helpful exercises for self-healing andredeveloping mutual t

Discover the Rewards of Homeschooling Your Teen ?Create unlimited learning on a limited budget ?Discover teaching methods for teens with different learningstyles ?Utilize the best resources and technology ?Prepare your teen for college, career, and adult life The teen years can be the most exciting time in your child'slife. He or she is becoming an independent young adult andbeginning to make decisions for the future. Yet growing concernabout the negative social pressures, safety, and efficiency of ourtraditional high schools has prompted many parents just like you toteach their teenagers at home. With Homeschooling: The Teen Yearsas your guide, you'll discover it's not as daunting a task asyou've been led to believe. Using real-life stories from dozens offamilies, this book reveals the secrets of making homeschoolingwork for you and your teen. You'll discover how to: ?Work with your teen to create a unique, individual learningexperience ?Make coursework intere