Themes: Respect, Friendship, Monsters, Bullying, Supernatural, Mystery, Fiction, Tween, Chapter Book, Hi-Lo, Hi-Lo Books, Hi-Lo Solutions, High-Low Books, Hi-Low Books, ELL, EL, ESL, Struggling Learner, Struggling Reader, Special Education, SPED, Newcomers, Reading, Learning, Education, Educational, Educational Books. Donovan and Mark are always giving their friend Alex a hard time. When Alex buys an old TV/VCR at the local antique shop, they tease him about wasting his money. But Alex sees something in it that his friends donêt. Then he starts acting strange. Will Donovan and Mark figure out whatês going on with him before itês too late? In the fictional town of Scarecrow, California, tweens keep discovering mysterious and sometimes magical objects at the Vintage Rose Antique Shop. When they take these objects home, strange things begin to happen. Does the family who inherited the store have an active imagination? Or is the store really haunted? Each story is a tale about a specific relic found at the store. Stories will appeal to the most reluctant reader who enjoys the mysterious and somewhat creepy.

"When Alex buys an old TV/VCR at the local antique shop, they tease him about wasting his money. But Alex sees something in it that his friends don't. Then he starts acting strange. Will Donovan and Mark figure out what's going on with him before it's too late?"--

Beyond Prime Time brings together established television scholars writing new chapters in their areas of expertise that reconsider how programming forms other than prime-time series have been affected by the wide-ranging industrial changes instituted over the past twenty years. The chapters explore the relationship between textual and industrial changes in particular forms such as news, talk, sports, soap operas, syndication, children’s programming, made-for-television movies, public broadcasting, and local programming.

Authors have many reasons for writing a book, but the reason for this one goes beyond explaining. All I can do is describe what happened and let others tell their story. Friend Dorothy and I were planning a holiday leisurely RVing through Mexico, when suddenly we were sidetracked by the Lord into something else - collecting material for this book. When God wants to get our attention it can happen softly, like a wink, but at other times it comes as a bolt from the blue hitting one over the head. I'm thick headed so God's usual mode of operation with me is a bolt, but this time it was just a gentle wink! Just days before we left home a friend phoned, suggesting we look up a small advertisement in the RV TIMES. Someone called Charley was looking for Christian RVers going into North Western Mexico. Why not email him? Wink! We did, and as people say, the rest is God-history. Looking back now I can see that God was up to something!

Addressing a multitude of questions and issues surrounding how we use the media, Media Effects and Beyond represents the results of an international research programme into the use and effects of television, video and music. Seeing the viewer not simply as passive object but as a very active subject, the contributors engage with every aspect of children's, adolescents' and families' use of the media - its character, causes and consequences. Topics explored include media and social mobility; family commumication, and consumer lifestyles. Confronting the two traditions of lifestyle research and effects research, Media Effects and Beyond offers a much-needed reconceptualization of both. Written at a time when traditional European public service media systems struggle against a tidal wave of commercial electronic media, this book will be important reading for students of contemporary culture and communications, as well as media policy for decision makers.

How do you catch a killer no one believes in? They call Joe Bailey the Spirit Basher. Formerly a professional magician, he’s become an ace police detective in Atlanta, debunking phony psychics and spiritualists who prey on the gullible. And he’s just caught his first sensational murder case. The victim is the head of a university parapsychology program, impaled in his own home by a massive sculpture no one could possibly have lifted. The prime suspect: an eight-year-old boy with violent telekinetic activity that erupts in his dreams. Could the boy possibly be the murderer? Joe doesn’t think so. And he’s determined to prove it. But first he must separate reality from illusion. To catch this killer, he can’t even trust his own senses. Because the truth is far more terrifying than anyone imagines. And if he doesn’t get someone to believe it soon, Joe and his child will be next.... From the Paperback edition.

Since the mid-eighties, more audiences have been watching Hollywood movies at home than at movie theaters, yet little is known about just how viewers experience film outside of the multiplex. This is the first full-length study of how contemporary entertainment technologies and media—from cable television and VHS to DVD and the Internet—shape our encounters with the movies and affect the aesthetic, cultural, and ideological definitions of cinema. Barbara Klinger explores topics such as home theater, film collecting, classic Hollywood movie reruns, repeat viewings, and Internet film parodies, providing a multifaceted view of the presentation and reception of films in U.S. households. Balancing industry history with theoretical and cultural analysis, she finds that today cinema's powerful social presence cannot be fully grasped without considering its prolific recycling in post-theatrical venues—especially the home.