The devil may be in the details, but it doesn't mean you can't embrace the details. That was Blake Austin Harvin’s college professor's advice to his brainy student before Blake secretly left Chapel Hill to Virginia to become a recruit for the CIA in June 2021. Blake was a nerd through and through. He could analyze concrete details by over-generalizing statements because details can be cross-checked by reality more easily than a hunch. A nerd cares more about being right than appearing smart. So, Blake grabs onto details as a way of investigating facts. Blake had a STEM major. Highly educated. Many nerds gravitate toward science, technology, engineering, and math. His education dealt plainly in facts and observed many whys. Whereas many other more subjective disciplines lack the aim of fact-checking. Nerds prefer more theoretical fields, such as task-related, analysis, coding, and software programming. Nerds see gray areas whereas others only see black and white. This is because nerds are good at examining the pros and cons. Blake was a pro and a con. Sometimes, leaving him looking like an occupational vacillator, constantly seesawing back and forth between sides of an argument or the law. Blake zeros in on facts, leaving him in the gray area. Vacillators are unpredictable and detach from black and white. Blake is working on stepping out of the gray area and using his talent to gather information and wait for a pre-aligned set of theories to make a conclusion to hit his enemy with the force of facts. Blake’s brain is the lethal weapon.

From the computer science nonprofit Girls Who Code comes this lively and funny story introducing kids to computer coding concepts. All summer, Pearl has been trying to build the perfect sandcastle, but out-of-control Frisbees and mischievous puppies keep getting in the way! Pearl and her robot friend Pascal have one last chance, and this time, they’re going to use code to get the job done. Using fundamental computer coding concepts like sequences and loops, Pearl and Pascal are able to break down their sandcastle problem into small, manageable steps. If they can create working code, this could turn out to be the best beach day ever! With renowned computer science nonprofit Girls Who Code, Josh Funk and Sara Palacios use humor, relatable situations, and bright artwork to introduce kids to the fun of coding.

It's a perfect beach day, or so thought the family, young couple, a few tourists, and a refugee who all end up in the same secluded, idyllic cove filled with rock pools and sandy shore, encircled by green, densely vegetated cliffs. But this utopia hides a dark secret. First there is the dead body of a woman found floating in the crystal-clear water. Then there is the odd fact that all the children are aging rapidly. Soon everybody is growing older--every half hour--and there doesn't seem to be any way out of the cove. Levy's dramatic storytelling works seamlessly with Peeters's sinister art to create a profoundly disturbing and fantastical mystery. Praise for Sandcastle "Begins like a murder mystery, continues like an episode of The Twilight Zone, and finishes with a kind of existentialism that wouldn't be out of place in a Von Trier film." --Publishers Weekly, starred review "Sandcastle is a fast 112-page read you won't be able to put down." --Cleveland.com "Peeters and L vy convey some profound, if profoundly unsubtle, truths about the human condition. Weighty stuff, expertly told." --The Comics Bulletin

Ruby wants to build a sandcastle, but Max just wants to play in the water! Max finds his own special way to contribute and even saves the castle from being destroyed by a huge wave. Based on the successful Max & Ruby TV series, this perfect “takealong” book has it all! There’s a handle made for little hands, a simple story, a beach-themed puzzle, and even a coloring page hidden behind the puzzle pieces!

Liz deals with some unfriendly competition at the beach and tries to rescue a baby octopus in the eleventh book of The Critter Club series. Liz and her family are at the beach! Liz loves building sand sculptures, so when she sees a flyer for a sand castle competition, of course she enters. She thinks she’s found a new friend when she meets her neighbor Tommy, who is also competing, but Tommy’s not so nice. He teases Liz about the castle she’s building and he laughs when one of the pieces caves in. Then Liz’s castle gets ruined overnight! It’s the day of the contest judging, and Liz no longer has anything to enter. Did Tommy destroy Liz’s sand castle? Plus, Liz finds a baby octopus that needs help! Will she be able to get the octopus back in the ocean and swimming again? With easy-to-read language and illustrations on almost every page, The Critter Club chapter books are perfect for beginning readers!

Step inside a sumptuous sandcastle packed with amazing and amusing visual details for a beach day that’s fit for royalty. A young girl loves building sandcastles. But not just any sandcastles. She builds one so big and grand and lovely that all the royals of the world come to visit. There are banquets and balls and tournaments, a greenhouse for cacti, a staircase for skateboarding, and ice cream around the clock. Everyone seems to be having fun, until they discover sand in the royal almond strudel . . . and the fig milk bath . . . and everywhere! With a keen eye for the absurd, author-illustrator Einat Tsarfati invites readers beyond the crocodile moat to explore the intricately detailed, increasingly wild festivities that echo the arc of a day at the beach, from euphoria to gritty discomfort. The diverse cast of regal guests, from a Rapunzel-esque princess in pj’s and unicorn slippers to a pair of knights playing badminton, is just as inspired. A visual treat of a tale, Sandcastle opens the doors to a world by the sea where wit and imagination reign.

Paradigms and Sand Castles demonstrates the relationship between thoughtful research design and the collection of persuasive evidence in support of theory. It teaches the craft of research through interesting and carefully selected examples from the field of comparative development studies. Barbara Geddes is Professor of Political Science at the University of California, Los Angeles.