A joyous, snark-filled, and completely relatable collection of essays that skewer the foibles of ordinary events.

A Washington Post Book World Best Book of the Year Winner of the Israel Fishman-Stonewall Book Award for Nonfiction "Tender and amusing. . . . Doty brilliantly captures the qualities that make dogs endearing." -- The New Yorker When Mark Doty decides to adopt a dog as a companion for his dying partner, he brings home Beau, a large, malnourished golden retriever in need of loving care. Joining Arden, the black retriever, to complete their family, Beau bounds back into life. Before long, the two dogs become Doty's intimate companions, and eventually the very life force that keeps him from abandoning all hope during the darkest days. Dog Years is a poignant, intimate memoir interwoven with profound reflections on our feelings for animals and the lessons they teach us about living, love, and loss.

Award-winning author Betsy Franco is back with another performance that explores a range of math topics--from fractions and time measurements to geometry and graphs--in a way that relates math to the daily lives of children.

Volume 1. Introduction, 40 pages, 33 pictures. The Chispita books are written on the premise that an adult reader can use the experiences of Pita to teach and enhance the life experiences of a growing child as well as the fun of games, puzzles and adventures that the world has to offer... Volume one seeks to introduce Chispita the Service dog extraordinaire and explains what a Service Dog does to help their owners, in her voice she explains how she was trained, the importance of eating the right foods and staying hydrated, brushing your teeth, exercise and don't snack, as she grows she is schooled on how she should behave in public places, the joy of helping others and having friends. As she explains the meaning of her name she use's this to offer a lesson in Spanish and how to calculate a Dog's age, moving forward she intoduces her Japenease "Shiba Inu" friend by giving a Japenease language lesson and explaining how by learning other languages you can help people and be a good naighbor. Astronomy is one of her "buddy's" (owner) hobbies and it's something she enjoys to, here she teaches the reader how to find north by using Polaris the North Star. She introduces the reader to Sir. Isaac Newton, telescopes, star parties, the speed of light, Planets, Galaxies, as well as the fun of discovery. Chispita gives the reader an insight into her Internet advertisement job with on online story about her accomplishments as a Service Dog. The volume ends with Chiapita reinforcing of the importance of having all types of friends, as they keep the World in balance. All punctuated by graphic photos, "enjoy".

With Love and Hugs Your new friend, Sam Can you help Sam and his friends? One afternoon Grandma Kimmy told Sam, You need to write a book to help your buddies with their problems. Meet Sam, Marley, Penny, Gus, Lou, Riley, CeCe, Zoe, DaVinci, Mabrey, Slinky and Maddie, just like people-- dogs and a deer need help too! Sam tells his buddies, You are not alone. Everyone has problems. Sam and his buddies agree that together, we can help each other. Together, we can overcome anything that comes our way. Sam and his friends hope you feel that way too! They need You!!

A wry, cutting deconstruction of the Communist empire by one of Eastern Europe's exceptional authors. Called "a perceptive and amusing social critic, with a wonderful eye for detail" by The Washington Post, Slavenka Drakulic-a native of Croatia-has emerged as one of the most popular and respected critics of Communism to come out of the former Eastern Bloc. In A Guided Tour Through the Museum of Communism, she offers a eight-part exploration of Communism by way of an unusual cast of narrators, each from a different country, who reflect on the fall of Communism. Together they constitute an Orwellian send-up of absurdities during the final years of European Communism that showcase this author's tremendous talent.

Trying to determine the age of a dog is important not just to get a more acurate assessment of a dog's physical needs for vaccinations, immunity, overall veterinary care, but for behavioral reasons as well. To name just two, socialization protocols as well assessment of aggression thresholds are influenced by age. And while they can't get a fairly decent approximation of a dog's age and sometimes even birth month. A reasonable approximation of dog's age is important to adopters, too. Every dog deserves a birthday!--Introduction.