For Johann Sebastian there was always music. His family had been musicians, or bachs as they were called in Germany, for 200 years. He always wanted to be a bach.As he grew, he saw patterns in everything. Patterns he would turn into melodies and song, eventually growing into one of the most important and celebrated musical composers of all time.This is the story of Johann Sebastian Bach.

A memoir of a long-distance bicycle trip Leonard and his best friend undertook in July and August of 1965, when they were fifteen years old, riding and camping from Lansing, Michigan, through the northern Lower Peninsula and into the Upper Peninsula to Marquette, then Menominee, then across Lake Michigan by ferry to Frankfort, Michigan, and back home. Eight hundred ground miles were covered by bicycle alone, and more than a hundred additional miles by ship. The author describes in consider...

Executives from The Second City—the world’s premier comedy theater and school of improvisation—reveal improvisational techniques that can help any organization develop innovators, encourage adaptable leaders, and build transformational businesses.For more than fifty years, The Second City comedy theater in Chicago has been a training ground for some of the best comic minds in the industry—including John Belushi, Bill Murray, Gilda Radner, Mike Myers, Steve Carell, Stephen Colbert, ...

George Leonard (1923-2010) was an American writer, editor, and educator who wrote extensively about education and human potential.

This issue has more of a fantasy focus than usual—just the way the stories lined up, not a permanent trend—but it really showcases the strengths of modern fantasy writers, as none of the stories is anything like the others. On the mystery front, we have a new Capitán Ernesto Guillén story from Tom Larsen, for those who have been following the Ecuador-set series with interest. Our mystery novel is by Henry Kitchell Webster, and our fantasy novel is a Victorian-era feminist allegory from Edi...

Find Your Bearings and Chart a New PathAll throughout the modern period, there has been a steady campaign for people to "think for themselves" without tradition's distorting restraint. As a result, many Christians now blindly sip a watered-down faith, marketed as "no creed but the Bible." But, as Leonard Allen shows, we are always traditioning—even if one doesn't believe in tradition. And in this time of theological uncertainty and confusion, that process calls for...

An Officer of the Order of Canada, Chevalier of France’s Order of Arts and Letters, and recipient of the Order of Ontario, painter, printmaker, sculptor, designer, and author, Charles Pachter is one of Canada’s best-loved and most celebrated artists.Pachter is an artist with an astonishing range. His work is witty, thoughtful, moving, and personal. Many works, like Queen on Moose, The Painted Flag, and Hockey Knights in Canada, have achie...

Introducing a new kind of Jesus biography: Transform the tired and familiar way you have read the Bible into an electrifying journey of rediscovering Christ. In this compelling work, authors Leonard Sweet and Frank Viola reclaim the entire Bible as a gripping narrative about Jesus Christ.Jesus says, “The Scriptures point to me!” (John 5:39 NLT). But what does that mean exactly?Virtually every other “Jesus biography” begins with the nativity account in Bethl...

Exotic environments like the African savanna have long held a fascination for young readers. This colorful picture book beautifully evokes that realm with images of giraffes, lions, hippos, elephants, and many more animals of the plains. Through cumulative, singsong verse, young readers learn how all living things in this important ecological community rely on one another for their existence. The book brings home the important lesson that when one of these animals or plants is killed off o...

With his signature humor and amazing facts, best-selling author Jerry Pallotta offers a decapod for every letter of the alphabet.Meet dozens of crustaceans--and a few bonus animals--with engaging text and a laugh-out-loud narrative, from A (Arrow Crab) to E (exoskeleton) to I (Imocaris, a kind of fossil scientists believe to be the first crab on earth) to Z...

Show readers the role of migration in the life cycle of an Emperor penguin by letting them waddle alongside! When Penguins Cross the Ice focuses on the migration journey of one specific penguin, pulling readers into the heart of Antarctica with a story-like narrative and realistic, text-match illustrations. Includes a "fast facts" page and glossary.

Invite readers to swim alongside a gray whale as she heads south on the longest migration journey of any mammal on Earth. When Whales Cross the Sea enchants readers with a story-like narrative while subtly teaching the role of migration in the whale's life cycle. Includes a "fast facts" page, a glossary, and realistic, text-match illustrations.