A gritty and hopeful coming-of-age story set in the harsh landscape of the desert.Eleven-year-old Laura's life is upended when she's sent to live with her uncle Hector. In the hot desert air, she seeks money to pay her uncle rent, and her nights are spent wandering dark alleyways and deserted streets while Hector entertains women with drug-filled parties. Laura comes into her own as a woman, seeking refuge with Luz, a prostitute who works with her uncle; Bea, Luz's...

Who can leap over tall buildings in a single bound, or in this case save a little boy from heartbreak? None other than Horace the Strong!

An inspiring sports memoir from the family who captured America?s heart at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.The Lopez family set new records at the Beijing Olympics with three siblings on the same U.S. taekwondo team?and a fourth sibling as their coach. Mark took the silver medal, and Steven and Diana both brought home the bronze, with big brother Jean coaching them to victory. Here, for the first time, is the inspiring story of a family united behind a dream.In 1...

The Little Black School Book covers research, essay writing, clear thinking, expression, and much more in innovative and inspiring ways, giving students the solid skills and confidence that comes with merit. But there is more to success in the education system than merit. In this book, Mark Lopez shows students what goes on in examiners' minds and, more importantly, how to consistently capitalize on this insight. Students will learn how to make a psychological profile of their examiner so ...

Turn a stressful situation into a golden opportunity with The Little Black School Book, Volume 2: Exams. Volume 2 can be used as a sequel to Volume 1: Essays or on its own. This book provides you with powerfully effective exam techniques, offering comprehensive coverage on planning, preparation, and performance. It will liberate you from pre-exam jitters. Mark Lopez enables you in cultivating the personal qualities that make success more likely, and he exposes the examination system, expla...

'Elite athletes aren't born. They're made.'Michael JohnsonFrom a living icon of the Olympic Games – as both an athlete and now as a BBC broadcaster – Gold Rush is a compelling analysis of the fascinating combination of psychological and personal qualities, as well as internal and external factors, that go to create an Olympic champion.This exciting new book is based on Michael Johnson's own experiences as an iconic four-time Olympic champion, and on the knowledge he h...

Fresh from his triumphant and extraordinary achievement at the Olympic Games in Beijing, Michael Phelps—up from working-class, born-in-the-USA roots—shows us the secrets to his remarkable success—from training to execution.For years the world has followed Michael Phelps’s progress from teen sensation in Sydney to bona fide phenom in Athens. Now he’s a living Olympic legend in Beijing with a peerless record of gold medals. In No Limits, Michael Phelps—the g...

Lebron James and Kevin Durant are international superstars. This book follows both men's lives from their humble beginnings to becoming two of the best basketball players in the world.LeBron James, The Chosen One, is one of the greatest basketball players ever to play the game. He is an eight-time NBA All-Star, a three-time league MVP, and an NBA champion. Most fans are aware of his amazing accomplishments on the court and of his controversial "Decision" to leave Cleveland for Sout...

Jennie Finch fell in love with baseball as a four-year-old when her mother took her to Dodger games. A year later, her parents signed her up for softball lessons and the young girl was instantly smitten. As a youngster, Jennie dominated travel softball and later became a star player at La Mirada High School in Southern California. During her time at University of Arizona, she set an NCAA record with 60 consecutive wins. Blessed with remarkable pitching ability, good looks and role-model sp...

Embrace and revel in the stories of the toughest cyclists of all time, told by The Velominati, originators of The Rules. Read and get ready to ride . . .In cycling, suffering brings glory: a rider's value can be judged by their results, but also by their panache and heroism. Prepared to be awed and inspired by Chris Froome riding on at the Tour de France with a broken wrist or Geraint Thomas finishing it with a broken pelvis.In The Hardmen...

On August 26, 1960, twenty-three-year-old Danish cyclist Knud Jensen, competing in that year's Rome Olympic Games, suddenly fell from his bike and fractured his skull. His death hours later led to rumors that performance-enhancing drugs were in his system. Though certainly not the first instance of doping in the Olympic Games, Jensen's death serves as the starting point for Thomas M. Hunt's thoroughly researched, chronological history of the modern relationship of doping to the Olympics. U...

What does it really take to make the podium? Which of the biological, environmental and psychological factors really shape a champion's route to the top?To answer these questions, Ben Oakley has taken the original step of combining existing research with a study of leading athletes' autobiographies. Looking at the early histories and initial challenges of serial champions in their own words, Podium sheds new light on their commonalities.A similar focus in training,...