Cara has to climb The Ladder of guys to become the most popular girl in school, in a hilarious, heartbreaking, and hopeful coming-of-age story by the co-writer of Hilary Duff's first novel for teens, Elixir.

With the magical flair and wit of Ella Enchanted and the humor and sisterhood of The Parent Trap, this fantasy middle grade novel will appeal to every girl who dreams of being both the princess and the hero of her story. After triumphing over the curse threatening their mother's life and revealing the truth behind the treacherous magical prison the Twists, Princesses Flissa and Sara knew the fight to return magic to the kingdom of Kaloon had only just begun. Not only did they have to oust treacherous magical citizens, the former prisoners of the Twists would have to adjust to life in the kingdom. Months later, everything seems to be going better than anyone could have hoped. But when the princesses go to Maldevon Academy with the other children of the kingdom, both magical and non-magical, the remaining tensions among the people become clear. While navigating school life for the first time, Flissa and Sara begin to drift apart as they continue to embrace their individual identities, leaving Flissara behind them. And when strange happenings suggest someone isn't happy with the unification the academy represents, Flissa and Sara find themselves at odds over the possible culprits. To preserve the newfound peace in Kaloon, the princesses will have to learn to trust each other again and uncover the truth before it's too late.

Case File: The Second Unsittable Summary: Here at A.L.I.E.N. we believe in strengthening the bonds between humans and intergalactics so that one day all beings can live together on Earth in harmony. That day has not come. But our Associates are working hard to achieve this goal, including Gabby Duran, Associate 4118-25125A, Sitter to the Unsittables. Upon successfully completing her first mission, we have assigned Gabby a more . . . puzzling charge. The relationship between trolls and humans has always been rife with tension, and the troll family Gabby is assigned to is especially prickly. But Gabby is not fazed. Our footage shows Associate 4118-25125A playing, laughing, and snacking with Trymmy, the little troll boy, who seems to be thoroughly enjoying himself. Our liason, Edwina, informed Gabby that trolls love nothing more than a riddle—and stealing items from unsuspecting humans to add to their trove—but Gabby's certain that all this young troll wants is to have fun. However, it might not be as simple as she thinks. After all, there's a reason this particular alien offspring has been labeled "Unsittable."

Understanding how culture affects the ways we communicate—how we tell jokes, greet, ask questions, hedge, apologize, compliment, and so much more. We can learn to speak other languages, but do we truly understand what we are saying? How much detail should we offer when someone asks how we are? How close should we stand to our conversational partners? Is an invitation genuine or just pro forma? So much of communication depends on culture and context. In Getting Through, Roger Kreuz and Richard Roberts offer a guide to understanding and being understood in different cultures. Drawing on research from psychology, linguistics, sociology, and other fields, as well as personal experience, anecdotes, and popular culture, Kreuz and Roberts describe cross-cultural communication in terms of pragmatics—exploring how language is used and not just what words mean. Sometimes this is easy to figure out. If someone hisses “I'm fine!” though clenched teeth, we can assume that she's not really fine. But sometimes the context, cultural or otherwise, is more nuanced. For example, a visitor from another country might be taken aback when an American offers a complaint (“Cold out today!”) as a greeting. And should you apologize the same way in Tokyo as you would in Toledo? Kreuz and Roberts help us navigate such subtleties. It's a fascinating way to think about human interaction, but it's not purely academic: The more we understand one another, the better we can communicate, and the better we can communicate, the more we can avoid conflict.

Before she can rest in peace, Charlotte Usher must return to the tragic site of her death: high school. Once there, her assignment is to help a designated teen solve a personal problem in time for the all-important prom. But no one explained what happens if you fall in love with your class project. Charlotte would die (again) for love but facing the all-too-familiar feeling of invisibility may be too much for her to swallow.

Popular Protest and Ideals of Democracy in Late Renaissance Italy is the first study to analyse popular protest across the Italian peninsula and the Venetian colonies during the early modern period, 1494 to 1559. Drawing on over 100 contemporary chronicles and diaries, the fifty-eight volumes of Marin Sanudo's diplomatic dispatches, mercantile letters, and commentary, and 586 collective supplications scattered through archival sources from towns and villages in the Grand duchy of Milan, Samuel K. Cohn, Jr. places these incidents and their patterns in comparative perspectives, first with the late medieval heyday of popular revolt and then with regions north of the Alps. Cohn finds new developments during the early modern period such as an increase in women rebels, mutinies of soldiers, and new tactics of revolts such as shop closures, peaceful demonstrations of strength, and use of religious processions for discussions of tactics and strategies for obtaining logistic advantage. At the same time, these protests show convergences with the medieval Italian past, with leaders coming almost exclusively from the ranks of nonelites, religious ideology playing a surprisingly minor role, and the majority of revolts centring overwhelming in towns and cities. Finally, this study demonstrates that democracies do not just die under the duress of military occupation and growing powers of autocratic regimes. Ideals of representation and equality not only persisted; they could emerge in new forms and with greater sophistication.