When you think of Los Angeles, books and literature are probably not the first things that come to mind. Possibly sun, beaches, earthquakes, riots and even screenplays enter your imagination, but certainly not bound hardcover classics that create an atmosphere of intellectualism and sophistication. Maybe not even pulpy paperbacks that sell for a shiny quarter at Goodwill.
So perhaps it comes as a surprise that there is currently a trendy movement occurring in Los Angeles that has seen the marriage of books and bars.
Resonate: Present Visual Stories that Transform Audiences
by Nancy Duarte
Reveals the underlying story form of all great presentations that will not only create impact, but will move people to action
Presentations are meant to inform, inspire, and persuade audiences. So why then do so many audiences leave feeling like they've wasted their time? All too often, presentations don't resonate with the audience and move them to transformative action.
Just as the author's first book helped presenters become visual communicators, Resonate helps you make a strong connection with your audience and lead them to purposeful action. The author's approach is simple: building a presentation today is a bit like writing a documentary. Using this approach, you'll convey your content with passion, persuasion, and impact.
- Author has a proven track record, including having created the slides in Al Gore's Oscar-winning An Inconvenient Truth
- Focuses on content development methodologies that are not only fundamental but will move people to action
- Upends the usual paradigm by making the audience the hero and the presenter the mentor
- Shows how to use story techniques of conflict and resolution
Presentations don't have to be boring ordeals. You can make them fun, exciting, and full of meaning. Leave your audiences energized and ready to take action with Resonate.
by Rana Dasgupta
'Solo' recounts the life and daydreams of a reclusive one-hundred-year-old man from Bulgaria. Before the man lost his sight, he read this story in a magazine: a group of explorers came upon a community of parrots speaking the language of a society that had been wiped out in a recent catastrophe. Astonished by their discovery, they put the parrots in cages and sent them home so that linguists could record what remained of the lost language. But the parrots, already traumatised by the devastation they had recently witnessed, died on the way. Wondering if, unlike the hapless parrots, he has any wisdom to leave to the world, Ulrich embarks on an epic armchair journey through a century of violent politics, forbidden music, lost love and failed chemistry, finding his way eventually to an astonishing epiphany of tenderness and enlightenment.
more here => http://bit.ly/daARmn
The Touch of the Master's Hand, showcases a poem by Myra Brooks Welch - a wife, mother, and poet who was born in 1881.
The Touch of the Master's Hand is about learning to find your worth in what God says about you. Not in what others tell you. Not in what Satan tells you. Not even in what you tell yourself.
If you feel wounded and scarred by failure and sin, take heart! God, our divine Master, offers forgiveness and renewal that will restore you to a beautiful masterpiece.
Here's an excerpt from The Touch of the Master's Hand that shares Myra's poem. May it be an encouragement to you today!
Excerpt from The Touch of the Master's Hand
by Myra Brooks Welch and Bob Kelly
'Twas battered and scarred, and the auctioneer
Thought it scarcely worth his while
To waste much time on the old violin,
But held it up with a smile.
"What am I bidden, good folks?" he cried,
"Who'll start the bidding for me?"
"A dollar, a dollar"; then, "Two! Only two?
Two dollars, and who'll make it three?
Three dollars, once; three dollars twice;
Going for three—" But no,
From the room, far back, a gray-haired man
Came forward and picked up the bow;
Then, wiping the dust from the old violin,
And tightening the loose strings,
He played a melody pure and sweet
As a caroling angel sings.
The music ceased, and the auctioneer,
With a voice that was quiet and low,
Said, "What am I bid for the old violin?"
And he held it up with the bow.
"A thousand dollars, and who'll make it two?
Two thousand! And who'll make it three?
Three thousand, once; three thousand, twice,
And going, and gone," said he.
The people cheered, but some of them cried,
"We do not quite understand
What changed its worth." Swift came the reply:
"The touch of a master's hand."
The Touch of the Master's Hand is a great way to remind yourself and others of God's forgiveness - and His restoring touch. Myra's poem is combined with beautiful images and inspirational quotes, Scripture and reflections from Bob Kelly.
Click here to learn more and to watch the 3-minute movie included free with each copy of the book.
Resonate: Present Visual Stories that Transform Audiences
by Nancy Duarte
Reveals the underlying story form of all great presentations that will not only create impact, but will move people to action
Presentations are meant to inform, inspire, and persuade audiences. So why then do so many audiences leave feeling like they've wasted their time? All too often, presentations don't resonate with the audience and move them to transformative action.
Just as the author's first book helped presenters become visual communicators, Resonate helps you make a strong connection with your audience and lead them to purposeful action. The author's approach is simple: building a presentation today is a bit like writing a documentary. Using this approach, you'll convey your content with passion, persuasion, and impact.
- Author has a proven track record, including having created the slides in Al Gore's Oscar-winning An Inconvenient Truth
- Focuses on content development methodologies that are not only fundamental but will move people to action
- Upends the usual paradigm by making the audience the hero and the presenter the mentor
- Shows how to use story techniques of conflict and resolution
Presentations don't have to be boring ordeals. You can make them fun, exciting, and full of meaning. Leave your audiences energized and ready to take action with Resonate.
Heart-Shaped Box
~ Joe Hill
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Do you sleep with the light on? Are you in the habit of checking your doors and windows before you go to bed? Maybe even checking under your bed? If you are about to crack open Joe Hill's chilling thriller Heart-Shaped Box, you might want to rethink your nighttime habits--Hill's story about an aging rock star (with a penchant for macabre artifacts) who buys a haunted suit online will scare you silly.
Here are the latest booklists from Pivotal Kids Books
Read alouds
The ALA’s Top Ten Most Frequently Challenged Books of 2009
Books about dogs for younger readers
Picture Books about Non-Traditional Family Units
Diary of a Wimpy Kid Read-alikes
You can get the links from the main page here => bit.ly/gya8CM
How much do you know about your grandmother? Do you know her favorite color? Her favorite childhood memory?
What about your grandmother's parents? Do you know what your great-grandmother wore on her wedding day? Do you know who the most influential person was in your great-great-grandmother's life?
For most of us, the answer is "no." In fact, we probably don't even know those facts about our own mothers. In an increasingly busy world, we often neglect time for sharing old stories and memories. And we forget to pass on our own tales to our children.
Florence Littauer said, "The beauty of the written word is that it can be held close to the heart and read over and over again."
Wouldn't it be great if we had autobiographies written by our mothers, grandmothers, and previous generations - something to preserve the memories through the ages?
That's the purpose of our newest book. We've partnered with our friends at Thomas Nelson to bring you A Mother's Legacy, a journal intended to help mothers leave the story of their lives written down for their children and future generations.
The greatest gift you can leave your children isn't cash, a large house, or expensive jewelry. The greatest gift you can leave your children is the gift of yourself.
A Mother's Legacy is filled with interesting prompt questions to help get the creative juices flowing, even for those who feel intimidated by writing. Sample questions include:
• What was your favorite meal when you were a child? What made it your favorite?
• What do you remember about your first kiss?
• Describe the most fascinating place you have visited.
• What are some of the things that make you smile when you think of them?
No matter what your age, memory and reminiscence open a richer and fuller understanding of who you are as a family.
May this memory journal be a starting point in your family - a door into discussing and sharing the unique qualities and experiences of your life.
And this beautiful journal makes a great gift for any mother or grandmother you know. Keep a few on hand for baby showers so young mothers can get started recording their stories early on!
Click here to learn more or to look inside the journal.
Reluctant Disciplinarian: Advice on Classroom Management From a Softy who Became (Eventually) a Successful Teacher
by Gary Rubinstein
As Rubinstein details his transformation from incompetent to successful teacher, he shows what works and what doesn't work when managing a classroom.
More about the book here => http://bit.ly/hOGWq3
“I have tried to keep diaries before,” John Steinbeck writes in a giant ledger book filled with his methodical script, “but they didn’t work out because of the necessity to be honest.”
This particular journal, on display at the Morgan Library & Museum in a compelling exhibition that opened on Friday, “The Diary: Three Centuries of Private Lives,” has such a modest goal — chronicling Steinbeck’s work on “The Grapes of Wrath” — that it probably does not bend the truth too much. But spend some time with these diaries, intelligently culled from the Morgan’s archives by Christine Nelson, the museum’s curator of literary and historical manuscripts, and you see how fervently the keepers of journals labor to shape accounts of themselves.
