tie-dyed T-shirt concert followers, flea market traders, retirees who live year-round in their RVs, and the murderous Freight Train Riders of America (FTRA). PIn a richly comic travelogue, Grant uses these lives and his own to examine the myths and realities of the wandering life, and its contradiction with the sedentary American dream. Forget the white picket fence, the house in the suburbs, the monthly mortgage payment and all that crap, says a truck driver Grant rode with on one of his adventures. Americans dream about burning down the house and saddling up the horse and its been that way ever since the plains were knee deep in buffalo shit. PAlong with a personal account, American Nomads traces the history of wandering in the New World, through vividly told stories of frontiersmen, fur trappers and cowboys, Comanche and Apache warriors, all the way back to the first Spanish explorers who crossed the continent. What unites these disparate characters, as they range back and forth across the centuries, is a stubborn conviction that the only true freedom is to roam across the land.  (less)

for every writer and every generation. For Addison and Burke, it was the realm of the sublime, of foaming billows and floating mountains, of agreeable horror. For Romantics such as Turner, it was pure, unpent nature at its wildest and most magnificent, and for Coleridge, a mysterious and hallucinogenic place. And if for Melville it was a bountiful sea of metaphor, for Ben Franklin it was devoid of metaphor but teeming with natural wonders, curiosities, and lessons.brNow, inveterate sailor and bestselling author of Hunting Mister Heartbreak, Jonathan Rabam, has compiled a remarkable anthology of our changing visions of the sea, a rich treasury of writings as varied and enthralling as the ocean itself. Arranged chronologically, and spanning everything from Anglo-Saxon poetry to modern oceanography, these excerpts capture the work of poets, novelists, scientists, explorers, in a collection that blends the practical with the beautiful, the comic with the terrifying. Readers can savor Samuel Eliot Morison's picture of October spring tides on the coast of Maine, when the blueberry bushes on top of the granite cliffs turn a brilliant crimson and the maple near shore sends up torches of gold and scarlet among the evergreen, all reflected in the quiet waters. Or James Boswell's intimate portrait of Samuel Johnson below deck, lying in philosophical tranquillity, with a greyhound of Col's at his back, keeping him warm. Or Dickens' comic memoir of being seasick on a rolling deck (I found myself standing...holding on to something. I don't know what. I think it was the boatswain: or it may have been the pump: or possibly the cow).brThose who love nature writing will find that Raban includes a wide selection, such as Darwin's account of t?Р (less)

to happen.  (less)

(I Know Where I'm Going) to the passionate (Aura Lee); from the Civil War (Goober Peas) to the nineteenth century American frontier (Railroad Medley); and from comic courting songs (Billy Boy) to early popular song (Stephen Foster's Beautiful Dreamer). Available in both medium high and medium low voicings with accompaniment CD recordings. A full performance Listening CD, featuring all ten titles in a mixture of voicings, is also available. Titles Include: Railroad Medley (The Wabash Cannon Ball / She'll Be Comin' 'Round the Mountain / I've Been Working on the Railroad) * I Know Where I'm Going * Simple Gifts * Beautiful Dreamer * The Erie Canal * The Ash Grove * The Arkansas Traveler * Aura Lee * Billy Boy * Go  (less)

is a classic story of decency and guts triumphing over arrogance and greed.brPatrick lives in a little town on the side of a high mountain. Patrick's mother and father own the town bookstore, and his brother Simon is a bookworm. Patrick can't concentrate on books. The only book he likes is Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel,brAlthough no great scholar, Patrick does have a talent with levers and knobs and switches. He likes to take things apart and climb up on things. Once when he was quite small he learned how to make the door of the car work when Dad was driving, and he fell out on his noggin.brPatrick has a special friendship with his Grampa who operates an old backhoe which Patrick loves because it has more levers and knobs and buttons on it than anything in the world. Occasionally, Patrick is allowed to ride on the backhoe with Grampa.brOne day it begins to rain and doesn't stop. The creek rose higher and surged under the bridge. Then a big boulder came loose and rolled down the hill, plugging the hole under the bridge. The raging waters of Cypress Creek backed up and began to wash away the land on which the town was built. The only thing that can move that boulder is Grampa's backhoe and when Grampa gets stuck under the bridge it's up to Patrick to save the town./div  (less)

through childhood and adolescence. Whether it's struggling up a godforsaken mountain with other miserable campers, tossing aside all scruples to scramble to the top of the school social heap, searching for the true path to romantic love, or trying to meet the expectations of a father whose high standards seem impossible to live up to - these funny and affecting tales of triumph, humiliation, love, loss, competitive kissing, and laxatives will touch readers and have them laughing out loud as Will, a boy with an overactive imagination, grapples with what it takes to be a man and what kind of man will I become?BRBRFirst SerialISeventeen Magazine/IBR/DIV/DIVDIVAn autobiographical short-story collection from Bagdasarian chronicles his childhood and adolescence. Astute and impressionistic, this collection is arranged not chronologically, but in units of remembrance . . . The overall tone is one of wise humor. --IKirkus Reviews/I/DIVI/IDIVBRThe mix of comic situations with intelligent reflection gives each reminiscence a larger relevance. --IThe Horn Book/I/DIVDIVBRBagdasarian poignantly re-creates universal 'traumas,' both minor and major. . . Evocative in its entwinement of childlike candor with adult wisdom. --IPublishers Weekly/IBRBR/DIVDIVDIVBAdam Bagdasarian/B's first novel,IForgotten Fire/I, was a National Book Award Finalist and an ALA Top Ten Best Book for Young Adults. He lives in New York City.BR/DIV/DIVDIVDIVBFromIFirst French Kiss/I/BBRBRIGoing SteadyBR/IThat night I called her and did my best to sound as docile and love struck as possible. This I accomplished by lowering my voice ?è  (less)

a savage Viking chieftain, whose mores don't exactly match those of his prospective in-laws. Fate intervenes as, during a trip through the icy mountains of Thule, Lydia slips and plunges to her death. Shattered by grief, Arn undertakes a long, perilous odyssey... Fantagraphics' deluxe, full-color editions of Prince Valiant run chronologically, and Volume 49 includes work from the years 1979-1980. Valiant's creator, Hal Foster, died in 1982; this is the penultimate volume in the series. Each volume in the series presents close to a year's worth of strips per volume in an oversized format showcasing the strip's spectacular color pages. With its thrilling continuities of a fictitious knight in the era of King Arthur's Court, Prince Valiant set a new standard for the serial drama when it debuted in 1937. It was Foster who introduced illustrative techniques—and the sensibilities and standards of such illustrative greats as Howard Pyle—to the comics page. He is still considered, 20 years after his death and 65 years since Prince Valiant debuted, to be comics' supreme classicist, and the strip continues to live on in over 100 newspapers across America.  (less)

the one and only Mighty Thor! A masterpiece of immortal action, cosmic scope, and boundless drama, Stan and Jack's Thor collaborations mark a cornerstone of the Marvel Universe, and that's no small accomplishment coming from the imaginations of the most celebrated creators in comics! And boy, oh boy, bunky, do they knock it up a notch, a cosmic notch, with the tales we'll be bringing you here! It all begins when the Thunder God is captured by Rigellian colonizers and taken on a trip to the Black Galaxy to confront the one and only Ego, the Living Planet! It's non-stop action, action, action from there as he journeys to Wundagore Mountain to meet the matchless High Evolutionary and his menagerie of man-beasts! It all wraps up with a trio of titanic tussles between Odin's Son and Ulik the Troll, the Growing Man, and the Destroyer! There's a soft spot to these tales too, so don't forget your hanky as Thor struggles to reconcile his love for the mortal Jane Foster, and then there's the return of a certain Lady Sif...The cup runneth over with drama and delight! Collecting THOR (Vol. 1) #131-140 & ANNUAL #2. 256 PGS./All Ages  (less)

to guide the reader toward a fuller appreciation of cummings’s work. The book traces the poet’s development as a writer: where and when Cummings found his major themes, their significance, and where and when he mastered his characteristic way of embodying these themes./P/DIV/DIVDIVP class=p3 style=MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt“I admire the efficiency and thoroughness of this book. Almost all of the factual con­clusions and informative observations are in­disputable… Cummings’s vision emerges significantly in his middle and later volumes, as Mr. Friedman points out.”—BR. E. Wegner/B,IAmerican Literature/I/P/DIVDIVP class=p7 style=MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-INDENT: 0in“The poems are discussed with expert­ness and with critical joy, by Mr. Friedman, who treats cummings’s books in this full and notable study. It deals not only with the poet’s lyric and comic aspects, but very im­portantly examines the ‘basic mystical in­sight which is the real foundation of his work.’ Twentieth-century readers owe e. e. cummings a great debt for being the grand and joyful poet that he was; they also owe a debt to Mr. Friedman for interpreting his writings.”—BHarry T. Moore/B/P/DIVDIVP class=p5 style=MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-INDENT: 0inBNorman Friedman/Bis Professor of English at Queens College. He previously taught at the New School of Research and at the Uni­versities of Nantes and Nice in France, where he held Fulbright lectureships. He has won aINorthwest Review/Ipoetry prize, and two Borestone Mountain Poetry Awards. His pub­lished works includeIPoetry: An Introduction to Its @p£×=qÿ¾Û€  (less)

novel,iRedwall/i, for the children at a school for the blind in Liverpool. Since 1986, his descriptive style of writing has captivated readers from age 8 to 80. His books have won international awards and acclaim and have been made into a TV series.The thirteenth tale in the highly popular Redwall series, now in paperback.brbr“Peace has gone on too long. Something inside me says that trouble such as these shores have never known is headed our way.”brbrSalamandastron, under the guardianship of old Lord Stonepaw, is under threat from an enemy of immense and terrifying power. Ungatt Trunn, the wildcat who can make the stars fall from the sky, has attacked with his Blue Hordes and is determined that the fortress should be his. The mountain’s defenses are weak and it seems that nothing can stand in his way. Nothing, that is, but the badger Lord Brocktree, who is drawn to Salamandastron by an undeniable sense of destiny. But if he is to rescue the mountain from Trunn and his verminous hordes, he must gather about him an army capable of defeating them in battle.“He is a wonderful storyteller, immersed in his own kingdom.” –iThe Guardian/ibrbr“Not since Roald Dahl have children filled their shelves so compulsively.” –iThe Times/i  (less)

novel,iRedwall/i, for the children at a school for the blind in Liverpool. Since 1986, his descriptive style of writing has captivated readers from age 8 to 80. His books have won international awards and acclaim and have been made into a TV series.brbrbriFrom the Paperback edition./iThe thirteenth tale in the highly popular Redwall series, now in paperback.brbr“Peace has gone on too long. Something inside me says that trouble such as these shores have never known is headed our way.”brbrSalamandastron, under the guardianship of old Lord Stonepaw, is under threat from an enemy of immense and terrifying power. Ungatt Trunn, the wildcat who can make the stars fall from the sky, has attacked with his Blue Hordes and is determined that the fortress should be his. The mountain’s defenses are weak and it seems that nothing can stand in his way. Nothing, that is, but the badger Lord Brocktree, who is drawn to Salamandastron by an undeniable sense of destiny. But if he is to rescue the mountain from Trunn and his verminous hordes, he must gather about him an army capable of defeating them in battle.brbrbriFrom the Paperback edition./i“He is a wonderful storyteller, immersed in his own kingdom.” –iThe Guardian/ibrbr“Not since Roald Dahl have children filled their shelves so compulsively.” –iThe Times/ibrbrbriFrom the Paperback edition./i  (less)

Each book is individually packaged and peggable for easy display. UPC coded.  (less)