Themes: Hi-Lo, Sports, urban teens, Basketball. Finding the "right book" for struggling learners is essential to build both confidence and proficiency. Reading supports must be seamless, so that struggling readers are not stigmatized. The District 13 series does just that--written using carefully chosen vocabulary and simple sentences, the novels offer compelling teen stories about characters that interest young adult readers. Using sports as a backdrop, these edgy and mature titles confront issues that are of great importance to urban teens, especially teenaged boys: Coming of age, dating, fitting in, friendships, drugs, self-esteem, and school. Straightforward plots move readers through the 48-pages of text quickly and efficiently with satisfying resolutions. Synopsis: Wallace was worried. This was nothing like at his old school. He wasn't giving up basketball. Not for bullies. Not for anyone. He messed up at his old school. This was his last shot. He'd just have to watch his back.

My mom always said you don’t get a second shot at making a first impression. I’ve remembered that my entire career. Especially since I’m one of the few black men who play professional hockey. I’m calculated and respectful in the way I speak to my coaches, the owners, and the media. I’ve never taken a risk… until her. I could blame it on the fact that for once I pushed away the pressure of my career for the ocean waves, the sand, and good times with my new teammates. But those are excuses because the minute I saw her at the airport, something lit up inside me and the best week of my life was spent with her in my bed. After our week in paradise, we said goodbye, exchanged phone numbers and both assumed that unless one of us was flying through the other’s city on the opposite side of the country, our vacation fling was over. Then one night after practice I see her. She’s here. In my city. Telling me she moved here for a job. If that’s not fate tell me what is. I’ve never wanted a second shot more than I do this time, but she’s determined to leave what we were on the island we left behind.

Andi Morgan was the one who got away—the woman Erik Burke walked away from to focus on the game—but when their paths cross once again, all he wants for Christmas is the chance to take another shot at love. (Previously published in the Hockey Holidays anthology.)

The renowned British crime writer’s classic locked-room Golden Age mystery that introduced amateur sleuth Roger Sheringham. A party at Layton Court, the country house of Victor Stanworth, is disrupted when the host is found shot through the forehead in his own library, a suicide as far as the police are concerned. After all, the gun is found in his hand, a note has been left, and the room is locked from the inside. But one of the guests, author Roger Sheringham, has his doubts. The bullet wound is not positioned where it could have been easily self-inflicted. With a house full of partygoers and servants, suspects abound. It will take Sheringham’s sharp wit and fearless investigating to deduce who brought the festivities to a fatal end. The founder of the Detection Club in London, along with Agatha Christie and other writers, Anthony Berkeley wrote numerous novels, sometimes using the pseudonyms Francis Iles and A. Monmouth Platts. The Layton Court Mystery is his first book in the Roger Sheringham Cases, which includes The Poisoned Chocolates Case and The Silk Stocking Murders, among other titles. “Certainly, Berkeley’s short and fascinating career deserves to be saluted. For fans of the classic English crime novel, his books remain enjoyable to this day. Nobody has ever done ironic ingenuity better than Anthony Berkeley.” —Mystery Scene “He was one of the most influential crime novelists of the 1920s and 1930s, but has languished somewhat in obscurity since. A troubled, dark, incredibly innovative writer . . .” —Shedunnit

The pros have an unfair advantage. They hit driver wedge; we hit drive 5 wood. How is that fair? This is a book for those determined golfers sandwiched below the professional level but above the multitude of non-golfers unable to appreciate the game. The pros have conquered the game; at the same time, there is no sympathy here for the Sub-Optimal golfer nor from anyone who does not play or understand golf. It can be a truly lonely existence for them, with nothing to which they can look forward except the forward tees themselves.

A pulp story about cops and thieves and the men that are something in between. Trench has targeted a local bank to rob, and asked Steadman in on the job. Trench figures it's a great way to score -- considering it's a cover for mob money. They'll be thieves ripping off thieves. But what Steadman doesn't know is that Trench is a DEA agent. And what Trench doesn't know is that Steadman's a Naval Intelligence officer. They're both cops! And neither one knows that they're not robbing the mob, they've been set up to steal $50 million from the CIA! A light-hearted crime romp in the vein of Ocean's Thirteen and The Italian Job from comics legend, Steven Grant!

Thousands of people start their day with a shot of Coffee with Jesus, the critically acclaimed online comic strip. Find yourself in your favorite characters and laugh with Jesus at the absurdities of our world and the ways we walk in it with this venti-sized second collection, brought to you by Radio Free Babylon and InterVarsity Press.