Blast off to deep-space adventure and hijinks! Things are not so stellar for Mike Stellar. He is stunned when his parents inform him that he has only eight hours to pack before they move to Mars. Despite the fact that he suspects his parents are involved in a major sabotage plot; that the only person who believes him is a girl who won’t shut up; and that his mother’s assistant seems to be spying on Mike’s every move, Mike is dealing with the same things that every eleven-year-old deals with: bad cafeteria food, a strict limitation on his electronic use, and a teacher who is so old-fashioned she must be from the year 2099. With great humor and lots of action, K. A. Holt’s first novel is set to give summer reading an out-of-this-world blast of fun.

Presents the physics of stars in relation to modern topics such as neutrino oscillations, supernovae, black holes, and gravitational waves.

"This fun romp covers it all—car chases, shootings, eccentric-uncles-turned-amateur-playwrights and end-of-the-world computer viruses."—Publishers Weekly Charley Fairfax—heiress, theatrical producer, newlywed—is intent on living happily ever after with her tall, dark, and sarcastic husband Jack. The only mysteries before her are which play to choose for next season and how to decorate her dining room. But when Jack is hired to investigate mysterious events at a local San Francisco software company where high-tech executives are brought low—actually, dead—Charley finds herself poised to do the unexpected. Charley has to get a job. Okay, so maybe the job is a sham and Jack isn't exactly crazy about the plan that she and her band of irregulars from the repertory theater go undercover to find a killer, but Charley is determined to trade in her Prada for a laptop. She quickly finds herself wishing she'd had more than one crash course in corporate double-speak before her first day on the job. But faking it has always been Charley's strong suit. Charley and Jack are starting to get the hang of this marriage thing. If only people would stop talking about babies, introducing them to decorators, and trying to kill them, they might even get to take a honeymoon.

Reaching Reluctant Young Readers features 150 middle-grade books. Each profiled title has the potential to hook the reluctant reader and lure them to read the entire book. To specifically encourage elementary and middle-school-age reluctant children to read, there is first a pitch to get the reader’s attention. That is followed by a short reading passage to “set the hook” and encourage the young person to read the rest of the book on their own. Further, the book contains several hundred additional recommended titles. The books selected for this collection were chosen following the criteria of reluctant reader books created by the Quick Picks committee sponsored by the Young Adult Library Services Association. While these guidelines were designed for young adult books, they also work well for middle-grade books. The criteria include: clear writing (no convoluted long sentences with sophisticated vocabulary), high interest “hook” in the first few pages, well-defined characters, interesting plot, and familiar themes.

With knowledge from our deserts, Australians can reshape the human story. Dry Times: Blueprint for a Red Land provides new insights into how our desert environments and institutions work - and how this affects the people living in them, Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal alike.