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BEST SELLERS

Here you will find the most up-to-date best selling Amazon books and selected Oprah Winfrey Book Club books, in addition to other stellar children's classic books and best selling educational books for educators!


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Books for Adults:

The Assault on Reason
(Hardcover)
by Al Gore
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A visionary analysis of how the politics of fear, secrecy, cronyism, and blind faith has combined with the degradation of the public sphere to create an environment dangerously hostile to reason. As "The Assault on Reason" shows us, we have precious little time to waste. Gore's larger goal in this book is to explain how the public sphere itself has evolved into a place hospitable to reason's enemies, to make us more aware of the forces at work on our own minds, and to lead us to an understanding of what we can do, individually and collectively, to restore the rule of reason and safeguard our future. Drawing on a life's work in politics as well as on the work of experts across a broad range of disciplines, Al Gore has written a farsighted and powerful manifesto for clear thinking.


An Inconvenient Truth: The Planetary Emergency of Global Warming and What We Can Do About It (Paperback)
by Al Gore
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Our climate crisis may at times appear to be happening slowly, but in fact it is happening very quickly-and has become a true planetary emergency. The Chinese expression for crisis consists of two characters. The first is a symbol for danger; the second is a symbol for opportunity. In order to face down the danger that is stalking us and move through it, we first have to recognize that we are facing a crisis. So why is it that our leaders seem not to hear such clarion warnings? Are they resisting the truth because they know that the moment they acknowledge it, they will face a moral imperative to act? Is it simply more convenient to ignore the warnings? Perhaps, but inconvenient truths do not go away just because they are not seen. Indeed, when they are responded to, their significance doesnt diminish; it grows. -- Al Gore


We Are the Ones We Have Been Waiting For: Light in a Time of Darkness (Hardcover)
by Alice Walker
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Walker, best known as a novelist, offers a collection of her essays and talks in a variety of venues and efforts to express and encourage spirituality and progressive political ideas. Talking to midwives, black yoga instructors, college students, Buddhists, and other admirers of her work, Walker offers commentary on the ways that modern society is destroying itself and the earth, and yet stands on the threshold of promising development. Walker urges resistance to war, lower birth rates, simpler living, and simple kindness as ways to improve life for us all.


The Color Purple (Paperback)
by Alice Walker
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Celie is a poor black woman whose letters tell the story of 20 years of her life, beginning at age 14 when she is being abused and raped by her father and attempting to protect her sister from the same fate, and continuing over the course of her marriage to "Mister," a brutal man who terrorizes her. Celie eventually learns that her abusive husband has been keeping her sister's letters from her and the rage she feels, combined with an example of love and independence provided by her close friend Shug, pushes her finally toward an awakening of her creative and loving self. This book inspired the movie by the same name, starring Whoopi Goldberg, Oprah Winfrey and Danny Glover and directed by Steven Spielberg.


The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter (Oprah's Book Club) (Paperback)
by Carson McCullers
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With the publication of this, her first novel, Carson McCullers, all of twenty-three, became a literary sensation. With its profound sense of moral isolation and its compassionate glimpses into its characters' inner lives, the novel is considered McCullers' finest work, an enduring masterpiece. At its center is the deaf-mute John Singer, who becomes the confidant for various types of misfits in a Georgia mill town during the 1930s. Each one yearns for escape from small town life. When Singer's mute companion goes insane, Singer moves into the Kelly house, where Mick Kelly, the book's heroine (and loosely based on McCullers), finds solace in her music. Wonderfully attuned to the spiritual isolation that underlies the human condition, and with a deft sense for racial tensions in the South, McCullers spins a haunting, unforgettable story that gives voice to the rejected, the forgotten, and the mistreated -- and, through Mick Kelly, gives voice to the quiet, intensely personal search for beauty.


She's Come Undone (Oprah's Book Club) (Mass Market Paperback)
by Wally Lamb
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She's Come Undone is a powerful epic, an emotional journey in the life of Dolores Price. Wally Lamb's Dolores is a perfectly flawed character and easy to get attached to. Brilliant writing, a fabulous point-of-view of a female told through the hand of a male. How did he do it with such spot-on honesty?


The Five People You Meet in Heaven (Paperback)
by Mitch Albom
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This life-affirming fable ironically opens at the end of the life of a seemingly ordinary man. Known as "Eddie Maintenance" to those he works with at Ruby Pier, Eddie led what he saw as a disappointing life working as head of maintenance at a seaside amusement park. Upon his death, he learns that heaven is a place to make sense of his time on earth and that he will meet five people from his life who will help him understand its greatest lessons.


Lincoln as I Knew Him: Gossip, Tributes and Revelations from His Best Friends and Worst Enemies (Hardcover)
by Harold Holzer (Editor)
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Lots of books have been written about Lincoln. Most tackled this subject through Presidential Papers. Few took the time to look at those who knew Lincoln. Holzer does this by reading all the available material about Lincoln and getting together the writings of those people who knew Lincoln. This book is a summary of some of those people remembering Lincoln. It is great reading. One is struck by the Lincoln in this book. He comes across as a very human person. He was ugly and not very cultured. He was smart, friendly, and did not take on an attitude with his high position. He was approachable and easy to talk with. A baby sitter reveals his humanity with her encounters. He was not a racist, in a age when most white people were. He was ready to forgive a people who broke the nation apart. He was a rare human being. This comes across in the writting. For those interested in the real Abe Lincoln, this is a great book.


Mirth of a Nation: The Best Contemporary Humor (Paperback)
by Michael J. Rosen
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Many humor anthologies are very hit and miss, and they also tend to be very much a "boys only" club. But "Mirth of a Nation" is of the best I've ever seen, both in terms of quality and in including an good representation of women humorists. Michael J. Rosen has done an excellent job in compiling humorists such as Fran Lebowitz, Dave Barry, Mark O'Donnell, Jon Stewart, David Sedaris, Colleen Werthman, Patricia Marx and Henry Alford, just to name a few. This anthology would make a wonderful gift for just about anyone in any age group (it is pretty much "clean humor").


How to Think Like Leonardo Da Vinci: Seven Steps to Genius Every Day (Paperback)
by Michael Gelb
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Founder and president of the High Performance Learning Center, Gelb, in this book, offers "the Seven Da Vincian Principles" for learning how to approach life like a genius. He uses Leonardo's native Italian language to label these principles: "curiosita" (curiosity and continuous learning), "dimostrazione" (learning from experience), "sensazione" (sensory awareness), "sfumato" (accepting and embracing uncertainty), "arte/scienza" (balancing art and science, or "whole-brain" thinking), "corporalita" (physical fitness and ambidexterity) and "connessione" (seeing the interconnectedness of everything). Gelb provides discussion of each principle in relation to Leonardo's work, questions for reader "self-assessment," exercises and even notes for parents to apply the principles to child-rearing and teaching. His view reflects the current trend in working with "multiple intelligences" and creativity, and is similar to the approach outlined in Todd Siler's "Think Like a Genius" (1997).


Artist's Way : A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity (Paperback)
by Julia Cameron
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With the basic principle that creative expression is the natural direction of life, Julia Cameron and Mark Bryan lead you through a comprehensive twelve-week program to recover your creativity from a variety of blocks, including limiting beliefs, fear, self-sabotage, jealousy, guilt, addictions, and other inhibiting forces, replacing them with artistic confidence and productivity. This book links creativity to spirituality by showing how to connect with the creative energies of the universe, and has, in the four years since its publication, spawned a remarkable number of support groups for artists dedicated to practicing the exercises it contains.


The Vein of Gold (Paperback)
by Julia Cameron
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Coauthor of the best-selling The Artist's Way (above), Cameron here assists her readers in broadening their creativity by guiding them on a journey through seven kingdoms. Her analogy of mining for gold?mining for the heart of creativity works very well. To stimulate creative energies while walking a path to emotional growth, Cameron suggests beginning with writing a morning meditation. Chapters on patience, courage, and spiritual gifts are all interesting, each chapter ending with a list of tasks to practice. Each page is festooned with a quote from a writer, artist, or spiritualist. A solid bibliography and discography round out this rich self-help guide to developing spiritual, creative lives.


From Hope to Higher Ground: 12 STOPS to Restoring America's Greatness (Hardcover)
by Mike Huckabee
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Huckabee's book exudes the leadership, warmth and charm that made him the most popular Republican in a heavily Democratic state. His book is less about partisan matters than it is about building our communities and repairing our society. As Jon Stewart noted on the Daily Show, it doesn't come across as something a strong conservative would write, although Huckabee himself is a bonafide conservative Republican. This book speaks to renewing America--what we can do to restore our former glory, and what we need to stop doing to repair our damaged discourse and heal partisan wounds.


The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People (Hardcover)
by Steven Covey
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"Dr Covey has put together one of the best works ever. The key word in the title is "habits", no thinking about, setting goals to do something, swishing or anchoring yourself, but actually developing habits and actually doing it.
I've read this book several times and I get something new out of it every time.
This book is not only "not over rated" as some readers indicated, it is grossly under rated and arguably is the best self development book on the book racks right now!


Books for Educators:

1000 Best New Teacher Survival Secrets (Paperback)
by Kandace Martin, Kathy Brenny
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Today's teachers are equipped with little more than a four-year degree and a semester of student teaching when they face their own classroom for the first time. Standing in front of an overcrowded classroom-of any grade level-can be a daunting and terrifying experience. This book is a must-have resource for new teachers, covering important issues across all grade levels. Authors and experienced educators Kathy Brenny and Kandace Martin show readers how to: set goals, manage the classroom, discipline students, maximize lesson time, address prejudice, controversy and school violence, utilize available resources, and manage their time and health. Whether readers are recent graduates facing the classroom for the first or second year, or experienced teachers making a significant grade level move, this book helps them face the classroom with confidence.


Books for Young People:

The Crocodile's True Colors (Children's Best-Sellers) (Hardcover)
by Eva Montanari
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In the grassy fields of Africa, there is a school where young animals learn to read and write, to make music and art." From their school windows, the animals look out at a river in which a fierce crocodile swims. When their teacher suggests that they paint the scary croc, Lion chooses jagged lines and brilliant purple. The other students laugh, but the teacher explains: "Little Lion has used color to show how he feels. In painting, this is called Expressionism." Cubism, Futurism, Abstractionism, and Dada are similarly defined, until one frustrated animal throws his paints into the river. The croc, looking decidedly less fierce in his newly acquired colors, retaliates by making his own painting. Montanari, an Italian artist, does a fine job of explaining difficult art concepts to the very young, and her art, in bold colors and inventive shapes, is both appealing and whimsical. A useful supplement to an art curriculum. K-Grade 4.


A Family of Poems: My Favorite Poetry for Children (Hardcover)
by Caroline Kennedy and Jon J. Muth
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From the cover photograph of Kennedy as a toddler reading to her teddy to the red linen-textured endpapers; from her thoughtful introduction and words of encouragement to children at the beginning of each section of carefully chosen poems to Muth's beautifully executed watercolors, this volume is a treasure. In compiling the collection, Kennedy passes on her own family's tradition of creating a scrapbook of poems chosen by the children in lieu of gifts to their mother and grandparents. Divided by topic into seven sections, the collection is, indeed, a treasury of beloved poems written in a variety of styles by poets from many lands and generations, some more familiar than others, some unknown. Grade 2 Up.


A Wrinkle in Time (Paperback)
by Madeleine L'Engle
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Everyone in town thinks Meg Murry is volatile and dull-witted, and that her younger brother, Charles Wallace, is dumb. People are also saying that their physicist father has run off and left their brilliant scientist mother. Spurred on by these rumors and an unearthly stranger, Meg and Charles Wallace and their new friend Calvin O'Keefe embark on a perilous quest through space to find their father. In doing so, they must travel behind the shadow of an evil power that is darkening the cosmos, one planet at a time. This is no superhero tale, nor is it science fiction, although it shares elements of both. The travelers must rely on their individual and collective strengths, delving deep within themselves to find answers. A well-loved classic and 1963 Newbery Medal winner, Madeleine L'Engle's "A Wrinkle in Time" is sophisticated in concept yet warm in tone, with mystery and love coursing through its pages. Meg's shattering, yet ultimately freeing, discovery that her father is not omnipotent provides a satisfying coming-of-age element.


The Chronicles of Narnia: The Signature Edition (Hardcover)
by C. S. Lewis, Pauline Baynes (Illustrator)
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All seven books in The Chronicles of Narnia are now available in one volume with a beautiful new jacket and extra features! Fans will also adore the take-away full-color map of Narnia and learn more about the series and C. S. Lewis in excerpts from Beyond the Wardrobe The Official Guide to Narnia. This special edition is also graced with black-and-white chapter opening artwork by Pauline Baynes.


The Lord of the Rings (Collector's Edition) (Leather Bound)
by J.R.R. Tolkien
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There's no salvation for a fantasy fan who hasn't read the gospel of the genre, J.R.R. Tolkien's definitive three-book epic, the "Lord of the Rings" (encompassing "The Fellowship of the Ring," "The Two Towers," and "The Return of the King"), and its charming precursor, "The Hobbit." That many (if not most) fantasy works are in some way derivative of Tolkien is understood, but the influence of the Lord of the Rings is so universal that everybody from George Lucas to Led Zeppelin has appropriated it for one purpose or another. The "Lord of the Rings" is timeless because it's the product of a truly top-shelf mind. Tolkien's epic, 10 years in the making, recounts the Great War of the Ring and the closing of Middle-Earth's Third Age, a time when magic begins to fade from the world and men rise to dominance. Tolkien creates in the "Lord of the Rings" a universal and all-embracing tale, a justly celebrated classic. Copies of each individual book in the series are also available from Amazon books.


Harry Potter Box Set (Books 1-6) (Paperback)
by J. K. Rowling
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Follow Harry from his first days at Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry, through his many adventures with Hermione and Ron, to his confrontations with rival Draco Malfoy and the dreaded Professor Snape. From a dangerous descent into the Chamber of Secrets to the Triwizard Tournament to the return of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, each adventure is more riveting and exhilarating than its predecessor, and now all six books are available together for the first time in an elegant paperback boxed set. Individual books are also available from Amazon books.


Warriors #1: Into the Wild (Warriors) (Paperback)
by Erin Hunter
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This is the first of a page-turning series about wild cats, with its engrossing characters and heroes returning again and again for more adventures and powerful life lessons. In this first book, for generations, four clans of wild cats have shared the forest according to laws laid down by powerful ancestral clans. But now things are changing: ShadowClan has banished WindClan and is threatening RiverClan and ThunderClan by insisting on hunting rights within their territories. What's more, each year the TwoLegs encroach further into the forest, and prey is becoming scarce. A prophecy reveals, "Fire alone can save [the] Clan." Into this dangerous situation wanders a "kittypet," a young, bright orange tomcat whose courage earns him, despite objections by some, a place as an apprentice ThunderClan warrior and the new name of Firepaw. In this first spine-tingling episode in the Warriors series, Firepaw learns the ways of the wild life, facing many dangers and treachery both within and without his new clan. Intelligence notwithstanding, the cat characters are true to their feline nature. Grades 6-9. Other books in the series are also available from Amazon books.


The Jungle Book: The Classic Tale (Hardcover)
by Rudyard Kipling, Graham C. Barrett, Don Daily (Illustrator)
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No child should be allowed to grow up without reading "The Jungle Book." Published in 1894 and 1895, the story crackles with as much life and intensity as ever. Rudyard Kipling pours fuel on childhood fantasies with his tales of Mowgli, lost in the jungles of India as a child and adopted into a family of wolves. Mowgli is brought up on a diet of Jungle Law, loyalty, and fresh meat from the kill. Regular adventures with his friends and enemies among the Jungle-People--cobras, panthers, bears, and tigers--hone this man-cub's strength and cleverness and whet every reader's imagination. In much the same way Mowgli is carried away by the Bandar-log monkeys, young readers will be caught up by the stories, swinging from page to page, breathless, thrilled, and terrified. Ages 9 to 12. The DVD (and its sequel) of the popular Disney movie derived from this book is also available from Amazon books.


Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters (Hardcover)
by John Steptoe
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The story of an African King who has two beautiful daughters, but one of them is mean, nasty, and haughty while the other is sweet, compassionate and kind. When their father learns that a ruler of another kingdom is to take a wife, and is inviting all the women of the kingdom to come to court, their father decides that both of his beautiful daughters should go. On the way both girls encounter a series of tasks and, through these, their true characters are tested.


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