Evolved Publishing presents the second book in the "Darla Decker Diaries" series by Jessica McHugh. This edgy young adult novel follows a girl's tentative journey toward adulthood. A week at Camp Wakonda is exactly what Darla Decker needs. Having said goodbye to sixth grade and her best childhood friend, she's ready to create new memories and meet new people. Unfortunately, entering summer camp on a whopper of a lie and a fight with a fellow camper isn't the best way to begin. Aided by her schoolmate Nate, Darla navigates the twists and turns of life at summer camp while pretending to be Wakonda's only "undercover counselor." Despite the lies, older guys, bullies, and breakdowns, Darla discovers the truth about friendship through the mayhem and magic of camp. A frank and funny look at the path to adulthood, "Darla Decker Takes the Cake" continues the journey of love, loss, and the nitty-gritty of growing up through Darla Decker's eyes. Be sure to check out Book 1 in the Darla Decker Diaries series, "Darla Decker Hates to Wait."

A feminist anthology of short, dark fiction, Choose Wisely: 35 Women Up To No Good 35 is about "bad" women, and "good" women who just haven't been caught yet. It features Joyce Carol Oates, Aimee Bender, Diane Cook, Tina Connolly, Cat Rambo, Rebecca Jones-Howe, Kelly Luce, Nisi Shawl, and other fearless women writers.

The search for the biggest secret on Earth has begun. Matthew Bishop joins Jennifer Porter on a global search for a series of hidden scrolls destined to solve one of the world's greatest mysteries.

The theme of the conference this year was Critical CALL, drawing inspiration from the work carried out in the broader field of Critical Applied Linguistics. The term ‘critical’ has many possible interpretations, and as Pennycook (2001) outlines, has many concerns. It was from these that we decided on the conference theme, in particular the notion that we should question the assumptions that lie at the basis of our praxis, ideas that have become ‘naturalized’ and are not called into question. Over 200 presentations were delivered in 68 different sessions, both in English and Italian, on topics related specifically to the theme and also more general CALL topics. 94 of these were submitted as extended papers and appear in this volume of proceedings.

Commemorating the first 10 years of publication of the School Community Journal, this book presents a collection of articles from those 10 years and reflects its diverse contents. The articles are: (1) "The Community of the School" (Sam Redding); (2) "How My Immigrant Experience Shaped My Work with Families and Schools" (Dorothy Rich); (3) "The Politics of Virtue: A New Compact for Leadership in Schools" (Thomas J. Sergiovanni); (4) "The Impact of Race on School Change Teams" (Alison A. Carr-Chellman); (5) "In Search of the Elusive Magic Bullet: Parental Involvement and Student Outcomes" (Kim O. Yap and Donald Y. Enoki); (6) "Childhood: Our Children's Voices" (Frances K. Kochan); (7) "Our 'Changing' Town, Our 'Changing' School: Is Common Ground about 'Good' Classroom Practices Possible?" (Jean L. Konzal); (8) "Recommendations for Research on the Effectiveness of School, Family, and Community Partnerships" (Nancy Feyl Chavkin); (9) "Building a Learning Community through Teacher Action Research: Honoring Teacher Wisdom in Three Chicago Public Schools" (Norman Weston); (10) "Proactive Thoughts on Creating Safe Schools" (Constance M. Perry); (11) "Community-Based Education" (Christine J. Villani and Douglas Atkins); (12) "Improving Parent Involvement Programs and Practice: A Qualitative Study of Parent Perceptions" (Amy J. L. Baker); (13) "Improving Parent Involvement Programs and Practice: A Qualitative Study of Teacher Perceptions" (Amy J. L. Baker); (14) "The Peabody Family Involvement Initiative: Preparing Preservice Teachers for Family/School Collaboration" (Laurie Katz and Jerold P. Bauch); (15) "Parents' Educational Beliefs: Implications for Parent Participation in School Reforms" (Lee Shumow); (16) "Parent Involvement: The Key to Improved Student Achievement" (Steven R. Hara and Daniel J. Burke); (17) "Family-School Partnerships in Prekindergarten At-Risk Programs: An Exploratory Study" (Brent A. McBride, Ji-Hi Bae, and Thomas R. Range); (18) "Parent Involvement in American Public Schools: A Historic Perspective 1642-2000" (Diana Hiatt-Michael); (19) "Relationship, The Fourth 'R': The Development of a Classroom Community" (Nancy Meltzoff); (20) "Minimal Parental Involvement" (David J. Dwyer and Jeffrey B. Hecht); (21) "Family Programs for Academic Learning" (Herbert J. Walberg and Trudy Wallace); (22) "Connecting Families and Schools through Mediating Structures" (Vivian R. Johnson); (23) "Creating a Community of Readers" (Paul J. Baker and R. Kay Moss); and (24) "Someone's Most Precious Darling: Building the Home-School Connection in Preservice Teacher Education Programs" (Brenda Power and Constance M. Perry). All but one article contain references. (KB)

The Critical Thinking Toolkit is a comprehensive compendium that equips readers with the essential knowledge and methods for clear, analytical, logical thinking and critique in a range of scholarly contexts and everyday situations. Takes an expansive approach to critical thinking by exploring concepts from other disciplines, including evidence and justification from philosophy, cognitive biases and errors from psychology, race and gender from sociology and political science, and tropes and symbols from rhetoric Follows the proven format of The Philosopher’s Toolkit and The Ethics Toolkit with concise, easily digestible entries, “see also” recommendations that connect topics, and recommended reading lists Allows readers to apply new critical thinking and reasoning skills with exercises and real life examples at the end of each chapter Written in an accessible way, it leads readers through terrain too often cluttered with jargon Ideal for beginning to advanced students, as well as general readers, looking for a sophisticated yet accessible introduction to critical thinking

Are you worried and anxious about the present state of the world? Are you concerned about your future and that of your family? Do you want to live better, cheaper and healthier? Without worrying about politics, war, money problems, government surveillance, keeping up with the Joneses or even the unthinkable -- nuclear Armageddon? Then consider bugging out to Belize, the little English-speaking country on the Caribbean Coast. It's so close, yet so far from most of the world's problems. Bug Out to Belize by Lan Sluder tells you how to do it: What areas are best ? How much does it costs to live in Belize? How do you get residency? What are the pitfalls to avoid? And, how to make the move! Written by a leading expert on Belize, an award-winning reporter, newspaper and magazine editor, contributor to leading publications around the world including the New York Times, Caribbean Travel & Life, Chicago Tribune, Miami Herald and the Globe and Mail, and author of more than 20 books, Bug Out to Belize can guide you to a better, more worry-free future in beautiful Belize, the friendly, affordable, frost-free and English-speaking little country on the Caribbean Coast.