There's only one thing more excited than a kid in a candy store: a kid in a candy store who can steal as much candy as he needs. The same kid later realizes that budgeting for high school is so restrictive--why not just steal all those shiny little (and big) things that caught his eye?Tom Bentley was that kid. He was a dedicated, accomplished shoplifter through his high school years, so much so that he treated it as a business, taking orders for record albums, tape recorders, cloth...

Think Like a Writer will corral your writing ideas—and saddle up the stories you’ve always wanted to write. Do you love language, and how words work to thrill, convince, dazzle, excite?Every writer, whether a beginner or a veteran, has a combination of perspective, experience and ability that produces a point of view that’s theirs alone. Think Like a Writer supplies tools, strategies and prompts that will bring your unique perspective to life on the page.Whether you tell yo...

If language is, as Tom puts it, "a bright bird, uncatchable, but worth every attempt," this book is the lovingly prepared gilded cage, the single perfect feather caught in the net. If you have wondered what voice is, how to master it, how to free the storyteller within, this is your book. You will come away from it feeling a bright bird yourself, ready for flight.—Therese Walsh, Author of The Moon Sisters and The Last Will of Moira LeahyThink Like a...

Three Disaster Survivors Must Survive Each OtherWisecracking, ineptly lustful Hayden is the disgruntled proofreading coordinator at a large San Francisco leasing company. His big secret is that he's writing a novel that he hopes will change his fortunes.Megan, his prim, overachiever boss, a former editor at a publishing house, has a secret too: she's a closet alcoholic.Jacob, the homeless vet who begs outside their office, once a hopeless drunk hims...

They Packed Everything They Needed to Hitchhike Across Country--Except Good SenseInterested in coming-of-age stories with a twist? And then a tangle to the twist? All Roads Are Circles will take you on an improbable, tumultuous ride, with lots of ruts to sink your wheels, but lots of humor to pull your eyes back on the road."This is the novel which has cured me of my e-book resistance. I loved it! Bentley's characters are so vivid, so richly depicted, they ...

Flowering is a collection of stories built around the themes of loss, social disruption, mistaken judgment and stumbling redemption. From a shoplifting sociopathic genius to a card-dealing witch offering a mystical experience at the blackjack tables to a harsh drunk who turns out to be a malignant--yet chillingly accurate--soothsayer, the story's lead characters are complex and not always charming, but their colors are memorably bright. Location also figures significantly in othe...

Betrayal, loyalty, emotional carnage, forgiveness and yes, sex—two old friends, recent graduates from high school, go hitchhiking across Canada, and meet and fall in love with the same girl. Their rollicking ride hooks them up with gun-toting businessmen, devious runaways, sinister (and toothless) threats, two truck-stealing brothers for whom lunatic larceny is a daily treat, and a roadside philosopher as wise as he is generous.All Roads Are Circles is a story of innocence lost, kn...

Education has become one of our major concerns, at the heart of any strategy for prosperity and social cohesion. But young people are having more difficulty than ever before in adapting to the world they will enter as adults.Tom Bentley argues that if education is to meet the emerging challenges of the twenty-first century, we must recognise that learning takes place far beyond the formal education sector. We cannot rely solely on dedicated teachers to deliver the understanding and ...

Until deep into the 20th century, empire remained a source of pride for European states and their politicians. The 21st century, however, has seen the unexpected emergence of certain European states apologising to their former colonies.Analysing apologies from Germany, Belgium, Britain and Italy, this book explores the shifting ways in which these countries represent their colonial pasts and investigates what this reveals about contemporary international politics, particularly rela...

Robert lost his father before he’d even been born, and was quickly abandoned by his young mother to be raised by his grandparents in small-town Saskatchewan. In another sense, though, Robert never lost his father, whose ghostly presence lingers in the young boy’s life over the years by means of spectral “advice letters” on how to be a man. When Robert finds an old pump organ in a derelict farmhouse, he discovers a deep love of and talent for performing music. He also begins to discover sec...

Where is Australian schooling heading? What forces will shape its future direction? How ready are students, teachers, policy makers and education institutions for the challenges being thrust on them? With chapters ranging across the landscape of school-age education, this book proposes new, evidence-based directions for change in teaching, assessment, curriculum, funding and system-wide collaboration. It provides a grounded, forward-looking guide to questions that will be central to Austra...

Daisy Murray was our best friend, the girl of our dreams, and the glue that held us all together.But our town hosted an evil presence, and it wanted Daisy all for itself. One night, it took her from us, and she was erased from history.On the tenth anniversary of her disappearance, we are summoned home—back to the tainted town—by the ghost of the girl we all loved. It should be impossible, but there's no chance any of us are willing to miss the opportunity t...