A Whole New Ball Game

Rip and Red are best friends whose fifth-grade year is nothing like what they expected. They have a crazy new tattooed teacher named Mr. Acevedo, who doesn't believe in tests or homework and who likes off-the-wall projects, the more "off" the better. They also find themselves with a new basketball coach: Mr. Acevedo! Easy-going Rip is knocked completely out of his comfort zone. And for Red, who has autism and really needs things to be exactly a certain way, the changes are even more of a struggle. But together these two make a great duo who know how to help each other—and find ways to make a difference—in the classroom and on the court. With its energetic and authentic story and artwork, this is a fresh, fun book about school, sports, and friendship. This title has Common Core connections.

Traces the development of modern collegiate and professional sports, explains how they reflect American culture, and looks at the role sports have played in Americanizing immigrants

Marvin Miller became the first executive director of the newly formed Major League Baseball Players Association. He recounts his experience in dealing with club owners and his success in winning a new role for the players. He helped virtually end the system that bound an athlete to one team forever and thereby raised salaries enormously. formed

In the fourth book of the Rip and Red series, the two boys have one last basketball thrill ride before the end of fifth grade. It’s fifth-grade graduation time for Rip and Red, and this year’s festivities are going to be extra special because Reese Jones Elementary is also celebrating its twenty-fifth anniversary. As part of the gala, Hoops Machine, the exhibition basketball team, is paying a visit, and Rip may be playing a surprise role. But he and his friends need to finish their schoolwork first, which includes taking a newly required standardized test. However, when the students of Room 208 begin to question the need to take the test, a mini opt-out movement gains momentum. When the administration gets wind of this rebellion in Mr. Acevedo’s class, Hoops Machine, middle-school basketball tryouts, and walking at the graduation ceremony are in jeopardy. So is Mr. A’s job. But luckily for Rip, Red, their classmates, and their teacher, when you stand up for what you believe in, the people you’ve touched along the way rally to your corner. Most Valuable Players is the fourth book in the Rip & Red series, written by Phil Bildner with illustrations by Tim Probert.

"An interesting and informative look at the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League that operated from 1945–1954.... A significant title." --School Library Journal, starred review

Middle school gets multiplied in this new series about twins Alex and Ava, whose father is the coach of a small-town Texas football team! When twelve-year-old twins Alex and Ava Sackett move from the East Coast to Texas so their dad can coach an elite high school football team, they have to get used to not only a whole new school and town, but also the fame that comes with being football’s first family. They’ve got a plan to make it through: stick together! Because even though Alex and Ava are total opposites, they’ve always stuck together. But then Ava cuts her hair short, and Alex fears that Ava wants a new town to mean a new start—as an individual. At the same time, Alex’s concern has Ava wondering if she’s no longer cool enough for her twin. Are Alex and Ava still the same dynamic duo they’ve always been, or are they headed down different paths?

So much has changed during the past decade in political campaigning that we can almost say "it's a whole new ball game." This book analyzes the way campaigns were traditionally run and the extraordinary changes that have occurred in the last decade. Dennis W. Johnson looks at the most sophisticated techniques of modern campaigning—micro-targeting, online fundraising, digital communication, the new media—and examines what has changed, how those changes have dramatically transformed campaigning, and what has remained fundamentally the same despite new technologies and communications. Campaigns are becoming more open and free-wheeling, with greater involvement of activists and average voters alike. But they can also become more chaotic and difficult to control. Campaigning in the Twenty-First Century presents daunting challenges for candidates and professional consultants as they try to get their messages out to voters. Ironically, the more open and robust campaigns become, the greater is the need for seasoned, flexible and imaginative professional consultants.

Chronicles social media's rapid rise in becoming a powerful "player" in the sports industry and draws upon relevant examples involving athletes and sports organisations to demonstrate both the positive and problematic consequences that social media has created for athletes and sports organisations.