A great modern classic and the prelude to The Lord of the Rings. Bilbo Baggins is a hobbit who enjoys a comfortable, unambitious life, rarely traveling any farther than his pantry or cellar. But his contentment is disturbed when the wizard Gandalf and a company of dwarves arrive on his doorstep one day to whisk him away on an adventure. They have launched a plot to raid the treasure hoard guarded by Smaug the Magnificent, a large and very dangerous dragon. Bilbo reluctantly joins their quest, unaware that on his journey to the Lonely Mountain he will encounter both a magic ring and a frightening creature known as Gollum.

An impressive hardcover volume containing all seven books in the classic fantasy series The Chronicles of Narnia, graced by black-and-white chapter opening illustrations and featuring an essay by C. S. Lewis on writing. This volume also contains C. S. Lewis's essay "On Three Ways of Writing for Children."

Fantastic creatures, heroic deeds, epic battles in the war between good and evil, and unforgettable adventures come together in this world where magic meets reality, which has been enchanting readers of all ages for over sixty years. The Chronicles of Narnia has transcended the fantasy genre to become a part of the canon of classic literature.

This edition presents all seven books—The Magician's Nephew; The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe;The Horse and His Boy; Prince Caspian; The Voyage of the Dawn Treader; The Silver Chair; and The Last Battle—unabridged. The books appear according to C. S. Lewis's preferred order and each chapter features a chapter opening illustration by the original artist, Pauline Baynes.

In his years as a professional ice-skater, Olympic Gold Medalist Scott Hamilton learned to embrace the mind-set of working hard to “beat” the competition. But it seems competition has gotten a bad rap these days. We’ve bought into the belief that it is unfair to participants to rank performance. Yet competition is in fact a good thing because it’s about working toward excellence.

Finish First is a wake-up call for business leaders, entrepreneurs, spouses, parents, and even students to stop settling for mediocre and begin to revitalize their intrinsic will to achieve excellence and go for the win. Most of us feel we were made for something more, but we’re often afraid to allow ourselves to be competitive because we think our finishing first might somehow rob others of their chance to shine. This book encourages the hidden potential, the champion within all of us, to come out—which eventually brings our family, marriage, career, business, and the world around us the greatest possible good.

Our K–12 school system is an artificial product of market forces. It isn’t a good fit for all―or even most―students. It prioritizes a single way of understanding the world over all others, pushes children into a rigid set of grades with little regard for individual maturity, and slaps “disability” labels over differences in learning style.

Caught in this system, far too many young learners end up discouraged, disconnected, and unhappy. And when they struggle, school pressures parents, with overwhelming force, into “fixing” their children rather than questioning the system.

With boldness, experience, and humor, Susan Wise Bauer turns conventional wisdom on its head: When a serious problem arises at school, the fault is more likely to lie with the school, or the educational system itself, than with the child.

In five illuminating sections, Bauer teaches parents how to flex the K–12 system, rather than the child. She closely analyzes the traditional school structure, gives trenchant criticisms of its weaknesses, and offers a wealth of advice for parents of children whose difficulties may stem from struggling with learning differences, maturity differences, toxic classroom environments, and even from giftedness (not as much of a “gift” as you might think!).

As the author of the classic book on home-schooling, The Well-Trained Mind, Bauer knows how children learn and how schools work. Her advice here is comprehensive and anecdotal, including material drawn from experience with her own four children and more than twenty years of educational consulting and university teaching.

Rethinking School is a guide to one aspect of sane, humane parenting: negotiating the twelve-grade school system in a way that nurtures and protects your child’s mind, emotions, and spirit.

Celebrated biographer Ron Chernow provides a richly nuanced portrait of the father of our nation and the first president of the United States. With a breadth and depth matched by no other one volume biography of George Washington, this crisply paced narrative carries the reader through his adventurous early years, his heroic exploits with the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War, his presiding over the Constitutional Convention, and his magnificent performance as America's first president. In this groundbreaking work, based on massive research, Chernow shatters forever the stereotype of George Washington as a stolid, unemotional figure and brings to vivid life a dashing, passionate man of fiery opinions and many moods.

This beautiful book is a thoughtful Scripture study of twenty key touchstones of Jesus' life. An intimate encounter with the rosary, this lovely volume integrates Bible study, journaling, and thoughtful daily action prompts. You will grow in your appreciation and understanding of this beautiful traditional devotion, while deepening your love for Jesus in the gospel. For each day, you'll find Scripture, a devotional essay, pages for Lectio Divina, gorgeous graphics to prompt your prayer, and ample journaling space. Clear and elegant design, hand-drawn illustrations, and lovely calligraphy make this book a treasured gift for the woman who uses it. A companion children's book invites families to study together.

In this addition to the successful Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture series, Fr. Pablo Gadenz examines the Gospel of Luke from within the living tradition of the Church for pastoral ministers, lay readers, and students alike. Gadenz explains the biblical text clearly and concisely in light of recent scholarship and pays particular attention to the themes, theology, and Old Testament background of Luke's Gospel. Sidebars explain the biblical background and offer theological insights from Church fathers, saints, and popes, and reflection and application sections offer suggestions for daily Christian living.

Yoko Ogawa's The Housekeeper and the Professor is an enchanting story about what it means to live in the present, and about the curious equations that can create a family.

He is a brilliant math Professor with a peculiar problem―ever since a traumatic head injury, he has lived with only eighty minutes of short-term memory.

She is an astute young Housekeeper―with a ten-year-old son―who is hired to care for the Professor.
And every morning, as the Professor and the Housekeeper are introduced to each other anew, a strange and beautiful relationship blossoms between them. Though he cannot hold memories for long (his brain is like a tape that begins to erase itself every eighty minutes), the Professor's mind is still alive with elegant equations from the past. And the numbers, in all of their articulate order, reveal a sheltering and poetic world to both the Housekeeper and her young son. The Professor is capable of discovering connections between the simplest of quantities―like the Housekeeper's shoe size―and the universe at large, drawing their lives ever closer and more profoundly together, even as his memory slips away.

Delve into the magical, unforgettable world of James Herriot, the world's most beloved veterinarian, and his menagerie of heartwarming, funny, and tragic animal patients.

For fifty years, generations of readers have flocked to Herriot's marvelous tales, deep love of life, and extraordinary storytelling abilities. For decades, Herriot roamed the remote, beautiful Yorkshire Dales, treating every patient that came his way from smallest to largest, and observing animals and humans alike with his keen, loving eye.

In All Creatures Great and Small, we meet the young Herriot as he takes up his calling and discovers that the realities of veterinary practice in rural Yorkshire are very different from the sterile setting of veterinary school.

James Herriot's memoirs have sold 80 million copies worldwide, and continue to delight and entertain readers of all ages.

"The World's Most Courageous Teacher" reveals the inner circle secrets of the American school system. The legendary schoolteacher, John Taylor Gatto, invested over 10 years of dedicated research to uncover some of the most alarming ideas and writings by the creators and advocates of mandatory attendance schooling, which show where the system came from and why it was created. He combined these facts with his personal experience as a teacher for 30 years in New York public schools, where he won many awards, including being named State Teacher of the Year twice, and has authored an all-time classic. This book was originally published in 2001, and has been printed a number of times. However, this updated version includes new essays from the author, as well as contributions from Dr. Ron Paul, David Ruenzel, and Richard Grove. This is the first of a 3 book volume which will help the reader gain a solid understanding about the American school organization and many of the hidden, yet powerful parts. In this first of set, Mr. Gatto's humble yet bold personality, mixed with humor and class, makes it an enjoyable read, despite the importance and implications of the subject. Mr. Gatto says, "It's time to take our schools back. If they mean to have a war, let it begin now."