Author Desi Downey had never been out of the States and rarely out of the Midwest when her husband's job was transferred to China. Without a clue--and virtually overnight--Downey was thrust into a new and bewildering existence. Ni Howdy is Downey's nitty-gritty, down-to-earth, and hilarious account of how she triumphed over the trials and tribulations of becoming accustomed to daily life in a foreign country. From the horror of her first encounter with the primitive "squatty potty" to the difficulties of grocery shopping, Downey paints a vivid and humorous picture of her experiences. With no-holds-barred candid wit, Downey writes frankly about herself, her fellow expatriates, and the Chinese people, zeroing in on both the differences and similarities of two vastly different cultures. Dispelling all those old stereotypical myths about East vs. West, Ni Howdy brings two incredibly diverse cultures together with laughter and heartwarming anecdotes.

Successfully navigate the rich world of travel narratives and identify fiction and nonfiction read-alikes with this detailed and expertly constructed guide. Just as savvy travelers make use of guidebooks to help navigate the hundreds of countries around the globe, smart librarians need a guidebook that makes sense of the world of travel narratives. Going Places: A Reader's Guide to Travel Narratives meets that demand, helping librarians assist patrons in finding the nonfiction books that most interest them. It will also serve to help users better understand the genre and their own reading interests. The book examines the subgenres of the travel narrative genre in its seven chapters, categorizing and describing approximately 600 titles according to genres and broad reading interests, and identifying hundreds of other fiction and nonfiction titles as read-alikes and related reads by shared key topics. The author has also identified award-winning titles and spotlighted further resources on travel lit, making this work an ideal guide for readers' advisors as well a book general readers will enjoy browsing.

Read a whole sample chapter on KneeHowdy.com "Knee Howdy" and other micro-stories in this book will help you learn to memorize how to say any difficult Chinese word with no need for flashcards or rote memorization techniques. The mission of this book is not only to help you memorize how to say your first words of Mandarin Chinese, but to also inspire you to learn hundreds or even thousands more. You shouldn't have to use flashcards, just use your imagination instead. When children memorize all the names of the characters in an animated feature film, it isn't because they study long and hard, it's because they actively engage in these stories with their imaginations. We will use this same technique to help us conquer two major obstacles to learning Chinese words. The first problem with Chinese vocabulary is that there are very few words that sound similar to their English counterparts. An example of one such rare cognate is "kafei", which sounds similar to "coffee". It makes that word easy to remember, but most Chinese words sound nothing like their English counterparts. Unless you stretch your imagination and twist the words a little, there will be no hook on which to hang your new words. To that end, in each chapter there are brief dialogs followed by wacky little micro-stories stories that will stimulate your imagination and make the new vocabulary words practically unforgettable. You can improve your memory even further if you tell your friends about them when you are away from the book. Retelling the stories in your own words and laughing out loud with friends will embed the words deeper in your mind. A second problem we will conquer is the often-intimidating 4 tones. You have to stand up and get your body moving. For instance, if a word you are trying to remember is a 4th tone word, you might stomp your foot when you say that word. Make the tone hint movements described in this book and you can stay physically active while you at the same time build mental muscle memory. A Word of Caution: Please, do not fall into the trap of thinking that it would be easier to just memorize these words by rote. Don't be a fuddy duddy! It has been scientifically proven that if you are having fun while learning, then you will produce better results. So stand up and face your enemy. Get ready to learn to be a quick draw.