What makes funny FUNNY? An esteemed anthologist interviews thirteen favorite children’s authors -- and asks them to share their trade secrets. (Age 12 and up)DO YOU EVER MAKE YOURSELF LAUGH WHILE YOU ARE WRITING?"A joke isn’t a joke if you need to explain it," notes Leonard S. Marcus. "Even so, the hidden clockwork of comedy . . . has long been considered one of the great riddles of life." There are many kinds of humor, but capturing their essence on paper is a remarkably d...

See Dick Throw a Hissy Fit: The Rise and Predictable Fall of U.S. CultureBy Dr. Lauran StarAmerica didn't break overnight-it threw a tantrum.In See Dick Throw a Hissy Fit, Dr. Lauran Star delivers a fearless cultural autopsy of a nation caught between nostalgia and chaos. Through razor-sharp satire and uncompromising analysis, she resurrects Dick, Jane, and Sally-not as innocent childhood characters, but as modern archetype...

At the age of 13 Sidney Kidman ran away from home with only five shillings in his pocket. He went on to become a horse dealer, drover, cattle buyer and bush jockey and he also ran a coach business. Above all Kidman created a mighty cattle empire of more than a hundred stations, fighting droughts, bushfires, floods and plagues of vermin to do so. His enterprise and courage won him a huge fortune and made him a legend.

I Can Jump Puddles is Alan Marshall’s story of his childhood - a happy world in which, despite his crippling poliomyelitis, he plays, climbs, fights, swims, rides and laughs. His world was the Australian countryside early last century: rough-riders, bushmen, farmers and tellers of tall stories - a world held precious by the young Alan Marshall.

The wispy Peter Pan and Tinkerbell flies into the lives of Wendy Darling and her two brothers, telling them about his home, Neverland – a faraway land filled with magic and wonder. He leads the three Darling children over the rooftops of London and away to Neverland. Magic and mischief is in the air but if villainous Captain Hook has his way, before long someone will be swimming with the crocodiles...