Paul Mather's a pitcher -- a really good one. His off speed pitch is enough to bowl a kid backward, and his fast ball is pure smoke. There isn't anything he can't throw, from sliders, change-ups, and sinkers to a mean curve ball that breaks at just the right moment. He's pitched no-hitters and perfect games. To Paul, pitching is what you live for and why you live. Lately, though, Paul hasn't been allowed to do much of anything, much less play ball. He's got leukemia, and it's put him into the hospital several times already. His parents are so worried, they've forbidden him to play the game he loves so much. They're afraid that if Paul strains himself his illness may come back a final time...and maybe even take his life. But Paul is a winner. His team needs him, and he won't give up without a fight. Paul Mather is determined to pitch every inning...to keep playing baseball, and to keep hanging tough, no matter what the odds.

Over one million copies sold! A baseball fan learns the true meaning of success in this beloved classic that will capture the imaginations of a new generation of young readers. Sylvester loves baseball, but he isn't exactly what you'd call a good hitter. Even though he wants nothing more than to join his neighborhood team, the Hooper Redbirds, he's sure he'll never do anything more than warm the bench. But then he meets the mysterious Mr. Baruth who promises to make Sylvester one of the best players ever. Suddenly, Sylvester goes from the worst player on the team to the kid who can only hit homers. With his overnight success, however, come tough questions. Will Sylvester ever learn the true meaning of teamwork? And what will happen when he has to learn to stand on his own? This beloved story about baseball, confidence, perseverance, and being a good teammate is a modern classic and sure to win over a new generation of young sports fans.

It is a common—and fundamental—misconception that Paul told people how to live. Apart from forbidding certain abusive practices, he never gives any precise instructions for living. It would have violated his two main social principles: human freedom and dignity, and the need for people to love one another. Paul was a Hellenistic Jew, originally named Saul, from the tribe of Benjamin, who made a living from tent making or leatherworking. He called himself the “Apostle to the Gentiles” and was the most important of the early Christian evangelists. Paul is not easy to understand. The Greeks and Romans themselves probably misunderstood him or skimmed the surface of his arguments when he used terms such as “law” (referring to the complex system of Jewish religious law in which he himself was trained). But they did share a language—Greek—and a cosmopolitan urban culture, that of the Roman Empire. Paul considered evangelizing the Greeks and Romans to be his special mission. “For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters; only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for self-indulgence, but through love become slaves to one another. For the whole law is summed up in a single commandment, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’” The idea of love as the only rule was current among Jewish thinkers of his time, but the idea of freedom being available to anyone was revolutionary. Paul, regarded by Christians as the greatest interpreter of Jesus’ mission, was the first person to explain how Christ’s life and death fit into the larger scheme of salvation, from the creation of Adam to the end of time. Preaching spiritual equality and God’s infinite love, he crusaded for the Jewish Messiah to be accepted as the friend and deliverer of all humankind. In Paul Among the People, Sarah Ruden explores the meanings of his words and shows how they might have affected readers in his own time and culture. She describes as well how his writings represented the new church as an alternative to old ways of thinking, feeling, and living. Ruden translates passages from ancient Greek and Roman literature, from Aristophanes to Seneca, setting them beside famous and controversial passages of Paul and their key modern interpretations. She writes about Augustine; about George Bernard Shaw’s misguided notion of Paul as “the eternal enemy of Women”; and about the misuse of Paul in the English Puritan Richard Baxter’s strictures against “flesh-pleasing.” Ruden makes clear that Paul’s ethics, in contrast to later distortions, were humane, open, and responsible. Paul Among the People is a remarkable work of scholarship, synthesis, and understanding; a revelation of the founder of Christianity.

... Jason becomes convinced that a knowledgeable school custodian, Mack Henry, is really a former star pitcher of the old Negro leagues. The revelation of Mr. Henry's secret and Jason's efforts to recruit him as his new team's coach ...--Horn Book

"Jake is back! The tough, independent, eleven year old ball player, the leader of the Print-Alls-- a team that will be broken up unless they find a coach. Jake, an orphan, lives with his Uncle Lenny, an ex-athlete and now a musician. Lenny plays his music at night while Jake is supposedly sleeping. Jake is having trouble getting to school in the morning while Lenny is sleeping. As a family unit, they're in trouble; as a team the Print-Alls are in trouble"--Page 4 of cover.

Describes creative assessment options for measuring students' knowledge of a novel. Includes samples of each type of assessment.

T B.J. Lamberti rees are unmistakably crucial to the physical success and well-being of our planet. These giants of the plant kingdom allow and invite people to pass under their branches to share their essence and energy and wisdom in a completely selfless way. In my story an apple tree drops its apples beneath its branches, and they are TAKEN by the people who pass under to taste the sweet. The tree is not ready to surrender its self-worth to children snatching up her golden delicious apples without learning something about the human tree of children. The tree begins to question the general consequences between the adults and the children. The tree through discovery learns her true value. The tree represents Nature, and her apples are her precious gifts. The allegorical work shows that humankind is composed of many qualities like the many apples on the tree. Some apples are crisp, some are sweeter than others, and some are in conical shape. The children who pass under the trees branches possess different traits passed on by their parents. Among the different traits we should achieve in our daily lives include joy, truthfulness, appreciation of internal and external beauty, peace, harmony, etc. The tree discovers its self-worth when he understands The Apple Doesn't Fall Far From the Tree in nature and humankind. Basically, kids are like their parents, a chip off the old block. Nature (apple tree) and humankind become one in time and space.