A young child shares why each month is special, from the winter chill in January and the spring breeze in March to the heat in July and colored leaves in September.

A pioneering work on early childhood development that is as relevant today as when it was first published 60 years ago. To a small child, the world is an exciting but sometimes frightening and unstable place. In The Magic Years, Selma Fraiberg takes the reader into the mind of the child, showing how he confronts the world and learns to cope with it. With great warmth and perception, she discusses the problems at each stage of development and reveals the qualities—above all, the quality of understanding—that can provide the right answer at critical moments.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • NATIONAL BOOK AWARD WINNER • From one of America’s iconic writers, a stunning book of electric honesty and passion that explores an intensely personal yet universal experience: a portrait of a marriage—and a life, in good times and bad—that will speak to anyone who has ever loved a husband or wife or child. Several days before Christmas 2003, John Gregory Dunne and Joan Didion saw their only daughter, Quintana, fall ill with what seemed at first flu, then pneumonia, then complete septic shock. She was put into an induced coma and placed on life support. Days later—the night before New Year’s Eve—the Dunnes were just sitting down to dinner after visiting the hospital when John Gregory Dunne suffered a massive and fatal coronary. In a second, this close, symbiotic partnership of forty years was over. Four weeks later, their daughter pulled through. Two months after that, arriving at LAX, she collapsed and underwent six hours of brain surgery at UCLA Medical Center to relieve a massive hematoma. This powerful book is Didion’ s attempt to make sense of the “weeks and then months that cut loose any fixed idea I ever had about death, about illness ... about marriage and children and memory ... about the shallowness of sanity, about life itself.

This book documents the wild and crazy years the author spent growing up with the superstar of comedy, Steve Martin. No one could better chronicle Steves enchanted life than his oldest friend, Morris Walker. You will re-live the times that Steve Martin himself refers to as 'The best years of my life!' as well as all of his accomplishments since then. These are the adventures of two young boys who were dedicated to comedy as a way of life since the day they met in the 6th grade. From Steves earliest days as the class clown through his struggling years on the road to his phenomenal success as a stand-up comic, movie star and producer -- they were as inseparable as loving brothers and became best friends for life. Every chapter is filled with wild and crazy antics, laughter, warmth and more comedy. Followers of Steves brilliant career will love this book because it is not only an authoritative firsthand account, but it is written in a humorous style that demonstrates the warmth and generosity of spirit that few Hollywood personalities are ever able to exhibit. Readers and fans will admire Steve Martin even more as they learn about his early days working at Disneyland to his first job as a writer on 'The Smothers Brothers Show' to becoming the highest paid comedian in the country, starring in over 25 great films. As re-told in 'Steve Martin: The Magic Years', his enchanted life has been an epic adventure in the history of American film and entertainment.

The New York Times bestselling journalist and author of The Girls from Ames, Jeffrey Zaslow, takes us to a multi- generational family owned small-town bridal shop to explore the emotional lives of women in the 21st century. You may not have heard of Fowler, Michigan, much less Becker's Bridal. But for the thousands of women who have stepped inside, Becker's is the site of some of the most important moments of their lives-moments that speak to us all. Housed in a former bank, the boutique owners transformed the vault into a "magic room," with soft church lighting, a circular pedestal, and mirrors that make lifelong dreams come true. Illuminating the poignant aspects of a woman's journey to the altar, The Magic Room tells the stories of memorable women on the brink of commitment. Run by the same family for years, Becker's has witnessed transformations in how America views the institution of marriage; some of the shop's clientele are becoming stepmothers, or starting married life for a second time. In The Girls from Ames, beloved author Jeffrey Zaslow used friendships to explore the emotional lives of women. In The Magic Room, he turns his perceptive eye to weddings and weaves together secrets, memories and family tales to explore the hopes and dreams we have for our daughters.

This master class in writing children’s and young adult novels will teach you everything you need to know to write and publish a great book. The best children’s and young adult novels take readers on wonderful outward adventures and stirring inward journeys. In The Magic Words, editor Cheryl B. Klein guides writers on an enjoyable and practical-minded voyage of their own, from developing a saleable premise for a novel to finding a dream agent. She delves deep into the major elements of fiction—intention, character, plot, and voice—while addressing important topics like diversity, world-building, and the differences between middle-grade and YA novels. In addition, the book’s exercises, questions, and straightforward rules of thumb help writers apply these insights to their own creative works. With its generous tone and useful tools for story analysis and revision, The Magic Words is an essential handbook for writers of children’s and young adult fiction.

Make some magic in this colorful, interactive picture book from the author/illustrator of the Hello, World board book series! Do you know that you're a magician? In this interactive book, use your fingers to perform all kinds of magic tricks. Tap a hat to make a bunny appear, recite a spell to make books bigger, say "Gone-zo!" to make a ship disappear, and much more. But beware: the clever magic tricks don't always turn out the way you'd expect! Reminiscent of Hervé Tullet's Press Here, kids—and adults!—are sure to want to read this book again and again as they perfect their magic skills.