Big Bad Bubble

An ordinary bubble may seem pretty harmless to you. To the monsters of La La Land, however, a fragile, shimmering bubble is an object of terror, and when the frightening habits of bubbles are detailed by a fear-mongering monster, Yerbert, Froofle, and Wumpus run away and cry. But with encouragement from the narrator and from readers—“Go on, Wumpus, you can do it. (Tell Wumpus he can do it.)”—the three learn to confront their fears and triumph over the bubbles! An original, offbeat, and giggle-inducing take on conquering fears from the New York Times best-selling team responsible for the groundbreaking Those Darn Squirrels! books.

A hilarious rhyming romp from Margaret Mahy and Polly Dunbar. With a poetic text, a fun and funny story, and bright artwork, this is a perfect read aloud for story time.

“Sweet, upbeat, and refreshing.” —Kirkus Reviews From the author of Strictly No Elephants comes an adorable picture book that tells the timeless tale of a little girl who’s on a mission to convince her big sister to play with her! For Lizzie, the perfect afternoon is one spent playing with her big sister, Jane. But it’s tough being the little sister. Jane is always busy with activities and play dates. And so she hatches the perfect plan to show Jane just how much she loves her. Each day of the week Lizzie works hard sketching and planning, waiting until Saturday when she can reveal her grand surprise to Jane: it’s Sister Day, a celebration of imagination and sisterhood. This sweet and whimsical story perfectly captures the special bond between sisters.

Best friends Rueben and Felix love blowing bubbles, and the bigger, the better. But after Rueben challenges Felix to a contest, the two go head-to-head and bubble-to-bubble . . . with disastrous results. Can they keep their friendship from going POP? Find out in this delightfully bubbly read-to-me eBook about friendship, fighting, and making up.

How to design a world in which we rely less on stuff, and more on people. We're filling up the world with technology and devices, but we've lost sight of an important question: What is this stuff for? What value does it add to our lives? So asks author John Thackara in his new book, In the Bubble: Designing for a Complex World. These are tough questions for the pushers of technology to answer. Our economic system is centered on technology, so it would be no small matter if "tech" ceased to be an end-in-itself in our daily lives. Technology is not going to go away, but the time to discuss the end it will serve is before we deploy it, not after. We need to ask what purpose will be served by the broadband communications, smart materials, wearable computing, and connected appliances that we're unleashing upon the world. We need to ask what impact all this stuff will have on our daily lives. Who will look after it, and how? In the Bubble is about a world based less on stuff and more on people. Thackara describes a transformation that is taking place now—not in a remote science fiction future; it's not about, as he puts it, "the schlock of the new" but about radical innovation already emerging in daily life. We are regaining respect for what people can do that technology can't. In the Bubble describes services designed to help people carry out daily activities in new ways. Many of these services involve technology—ranging from body implants to wide-bodied jets. But objects and systems play a supporting role in a people-centered world. The design focus is on services, not things. And new principles—above all, lightness—inform the way these services are designed and used. At the heart of In the Bubble is a belief, informed by a wealth of real-world examples, that ethics and responsibility can inform design decisions without impeding social and technical innovation.

Solve kid-sized dilemmas and mysteries with the Science Solves It! series. These fun science books for kids ages 5–8 blend clever stories with real-life science. Why did the dog turn green? Can you control a hiccup? Is that a UFO? Find the answers to these questions and more as kid characters dive into physical, life, and earth sciences. Grace wants to join her big sister Jane's Bubble Gum Club, but she can't blow a bubble. So Grace finds a good science book and performs a few experiments involving air and bubble-making. When Jane blows up more than she can chew, can Grace save the day -- and find a way into the club? Books in this perfect STEM series will help kids think like scientists and get ahead in the classroom. Activities and experiments are included in every book! (Level One; Science topic: Bubbles)

From the James Beard Award winner, Top Chef Masters contestant, and acclaimed author comes this fun, festive, and highly caffeinated ode to the joys and rituals of the Southern breakfast, with over 125 recipes inspired by the author's popular restaurant in Oxford, Mississippi. John Currence is one of the most celebrated and well-loved chefs in the South. Among his string of highly successful restaurants in Oxford, Mississippi, Big Bad Breakfast holds a special place in diners' hearts: It is a gathering place where people from all walks come together to share the most important meal of the day, breakfast. Southerners know how to do breakfast right, and Currence has elevated it to an artform: dishes like Banana-Pecan Coffee Cake, Spicy Boudin and Poached Eggs, and Oyster Pot Pie are comforting, soulful, and packed with real Southern flavor. Big Bad Breakfast is full of delicious recipes that will make the day ahead that much better--not to mention stories of the wonderful characters who fill the restaurant every morning, and a meditation on why the Southern breakfast is one of America's most valuable culinary contributions.

A little boy creates all sorts of fantastic animals with his magic bubble maker.