Titles

Families looking to enrich their green thumbs while beautifying their homes will enjoy this comprehensive guide to indoor and outdoor gardening using nontoxic flowers, vegetables, trees, and houseplants. Sorted by type—plants from seed, bulbs, annuals, perennials, fruiting trees, and sensory plants—each plant is thoroughly explained and easy to identify using color photographs. Details such as the flora’s preferred habit and why a particular plant is good for kids are included along with suggestions for use in the garden. Seventeen gardening projects illustrate a variety of creative and fun ways for children and parents to plant together, including butterfly gardens, herb pots, hanging baskets, rock gardens, and cutting gardens.

Two basic facts serve as the foundation for this vital resource: children grieve many different losses, not just life-changing ones like death and divorce, and they need a variety of ways to express their grief. This informative book combines a description of the grieving process with directions for activities—from the traditional, such as ceremonies or letter writing, to those that allow kids to physically act out their grief—that help bereaved children. Trained counselor Laurie Kanyer explains the value of each activity so that parents and caregivers can select appropriate projects based on the child’s age, loss, and stage in the grieving process. She also discusses how learning about grief prepares children for new relationships to accept losses later in life.

Profusely illustrated and eminently accessible, this indispensable manual provides hundreds of practical—and occasionally unorthodox—ideas to help parents cope with  developmental issues such as throwing food and always saying no, safety conflicts such as running in the parking lot, and interpersonal issues such as teasing siblings and refusing to share toys. A final section also includes advice for parents who have reached the end of their rope and have become angry or frustrated.

Revealing the warm and astonishing story of an influential jazz legend, this personal narrative tells the story of a man’s journey from a Southern upbringing to a career touring the world to play for adoring fans. It tells how James Brown first discovered the Parker brothers—Melvin, the drummer, and Maceo on sax—in a band at a small North Carolina nightclub in 1963. Brown hired them both, but it was Maceo’s signature style that helped define Brown’s brand of funk, and the phrase “Maceo, I want you to blow!” became part of the lexicon of black music. A riveting story of musical education with frank and revelatory insights about George Clinton and others, this definitive autobiography arrives just in time to celebrate the 70th birthday of the author—one of the funkiest musicians alive—and will be enjoyed by jazz and funk aficionados alike.

A Beginner's Guide to 3D Printing is the perfect resource for those who would like to experiment with 3D design and manufacturing, but have little or no technical experience with the standard software. Author Mike Rigsby leads readers step-by-step through 15 simple toy projects, each illustrated with screen caps of Autodesk 123D Design, the most common free 3D software available. The projects are later described using Sketchup, another free popular software package. Beginning with basics projects that will take longer to print than design, readers are then given instruction on more advanced toys, including a baking-powder submarine, a train with expandable track, a multipiece airplane, a rubber band-powered car, and a noise-making push toy with froggy eyes. Once trained in the basics of computer-aided design, readers will be able to embark on even more elaborate projects of their own creation.

Readers, beware: what you hold in your hands is a dreadful fairy book.

I wish I were narrating almost any other fairy story, but alas, this is my lot. Whatever expectations you have of delightful and whimsical fairies are sure to be disappointed. There are certainly fairies, but most are not proper fairies. Some who are supposed to be nasty are disappointingly nice, while some who should be kind and helpful are disconcertingly surly, dishonest, and generally unpleasant company.

Our heroine is, perhaps, the worst offender—a sprite more interested in books than carefree games, who insists on being called Shade. She is on a quest, albeit with rather questionable companions, to find a place her outré self can call home. A place of companionship, comfort, and, most importantly, positively filled with books.