Why are men so afraid of showing their feelings? What scares men about commitment? Blackboard bestselling author William July II tackles these age-old questions, revealing secrets that every woman wants to know about her man, and every man needs to know about himself. He explains how boys are conditioned to become emotionally closed off, leaving them incapable of sharing their feelings or participating fully in relationships--they are like the Tin Man in The Wizard of Oz. Taking a realistic, down-to-earth approach, July goes on to provide a step-by-step program for men who want to change, and for women who want to help the men in their lives overcome the Tin Man syndrome. Reading his words is as comforting as talking to your best friend, as enlightening as listening to a wise teacher. His book will help you to: Recognize a Tin Man Understand the real reasons why a man fears intimacy See through the tactics men use to avoid commitment and relationships Discover a man's biggest worries about relationships Identify the five situations in which even the most emotionally numb man will share his feelings Help a Tin Man change his life At the end of each chapter you'll find thought-provoking questions and self-improvement exercises for both men and women. Understanding the Tin Man is a much-needed voice of reason on the battlefield of the sexes.

"Crafted from sheet metal and scraps into likenesses that include clowns, knights, cowboys, and L. Frank Baum's Tin Woodman of Oz, tin men have both utilitarian and aesthetic purposes. Some serve as sheet-metal shops' trade signs or prove an apprentice's competence. Others are coveted in boutiques, antique stores, and folk art museums."--BOOK JACKET.

Seriality and Texts for Young People is a collection of thirteen scholarly essays about series and serial texts directed to children and youth, each of which begins from the premise that a basic principle of seriality is repetition.

Her bad-boy lover is no good for her, but she doesn’t realize how much until her house is ransacked and she’s left for dead. Overcome with grief, Ripley begins seeing her life as hopeless. Dreams that were once within reach become unfathomable, replaced with nightmares and horrifying flashbacks. Her father, a well-known airline CEO, steps up, finding a subtle way to help. But he doesn’t anticipate his plan backfiring as it does. Inadvertently Ripley’s heart is on the chopping block again. Ripley loses the drive to move on, but suddenly her life changes, and it happens when a young man named Will knocks at her door. Ripley learns of Will’s secret, which makes her question everything about his feelings toward her, but a tragic yet precarious bond keeps them together….for how long is anyone’s guess. Soon, Ripley has to break his heart in ways she never dreamed, and she’s forced to ask him the one thing she’s terrified to ask.

Dorothy tries to rescue the Tin Woodman and Scarecrow from the giantess who has changed them into a tin owl and a teddy bear and is using them for playthings.

Toys--those celebrated childhood cohorts and lead actors in children's imaginative play--have a fantastic history of heroism in fiction. From teddy bears that guard sleeping babies to plastic soldiers and cowboys who lay siege to wooden block castles, toys are often the heroes of the stories children inspire authors to tell. In this collection of new essays, scholars from a great range of disciplines examine fictional toys as protectors of the children they love, as heroes of their own stories, and as champions for the greater good in the writings of A.A. Milne, Hans Christian Andersen, William Joyce, John Lasseter and many others.

In this book, Shell, himself a victim of polio, offers an inspired analysis of the disease. Part memoir, part cultural criticism and history, part meditation on the meaning of disease, Shell's work combines the understanding of a medical researcher with the sensitivity of a literary critic. He deftly draws a detailed yet broad picture of the lived experience of a crippling disease as it makes it way into every facet of human existence.