Life Of Rileigh

Riley is cursed. No, really! After a fairground incident - TOTALLY not his fault - bad luck follows Riley everywhere, causing disaster after disaster. It's got so bad that no one wants to go near Riley, including his teachers! But when new student Brad Chicago shows up, Riley quickly realizes that Brad is the human equivalent of a good luck charm. Can Brad's good luck cancel out Riley's bad luck? Or is this yet another recipe for disaster?

Comparing the short, happy lives of rats with the long, complicated, dissatisfied lives of humans can lead to depression for the humans. The answer: simplify.

During a leisurely nap Riley awakens to an unsettling noise, while investigating the source she is met by a discourteous crow. Riley is just a kitten and naive to the outside world and questions the crow about what he is. The crow is very pompous in his description of himself and the encounter leaves Riley questioning her own self-worth. Riley sets out to find her purpose and begins her journey into a strange new world of amazing creatures. During her journey she meets many creatures that all have very important jobs such as Simon, the Crow, who is smart and keeps crops healthy; Cornelius, the Spider, who creates beautiful webs and helps keep harmful insects at bay; Felix, the Honeybee, who tends the comb, cleans the hive, gathers nectar and helps the plants to grow which keeps the air clean; and Bernice, the Beaver, who is helpful to other wildlife by providing winter-feed. Riley believes that her journey will end in failure as she returns home, only to meet a curious bat, named Bart, in her own back yard. Bart teaches Riley a valuable lesson about her purpose and the purpose of every living creature.

Enjoy best-selling author Eve Bunting’s moving story about the bond between a boy and his dog. "Maybe that's one of the reasons people get dogs, to kind of close up the empty places inside them." Eleven-year-old William never needed a friend more than now. After his parents' separation, his father's new engagement, and his grandfather's dying without any warning—adopting big, beautiful Riley is the first thing in a long time that has made him feel better. That is, until Riley innocently chases a horse. Local law states that any animal that chases livestock must be put to sleep. Suddenly William stands to lose another thing close to him. Together with his friend Grace, William begins a campaign to reverse the county commissioners' decision. But with a community divided on the issue, and the bully Ellis Porter trying to stop them at every turn, will they be able to save Riley's life? Celebrated author Eve Bunting shows William's determined struggle to fight for what he believes in. The Summer of Riley is an inspiring novel about learning to accept life's changes, the healing power of friendship, and the unending desire to protect those we love.

Van Allen sifts facts from fiction to construct as true a portrait of Riley as possible in the context of the society in which he lived."--BOOK JACKET.

Life of Riley is a humorous and emotional story of a very special dog. The book takes the reader through a twelve year journey of Riley's life. There are ups and downs throughout the story and it reveals how remarkable a relationship with a pet can be with a person. Anyone who has owned a pet will truly understand the love expressed in this book. And, hopefully, Life of Riley will open the hearts of humans who have never experienced unconditional love from a dog. Get ready to laugh, cry and giggle as you travel through the Life of Riley.

“A provocative and entertaining magical mineral tour through the life and afterlife of bone.” —Wall Street Journal Our bones have many stories to tell, if you know how to listen. Bone is a marvel, an adaptable and resilient building material developed over more than four hundred million years of evolutionary history. It gives your body its shape and the ability to move. It grows and changes with you, an undeniable document of who you are and how you lived. Arguably, no other part of the human anatomy has such rich scientific and cultural significance, both brimming with life and a potent symbol of death. In this delightful natural and cultural history of bone, Brian Switek explains where our skeletons came from, what they do inside us, and what others can learn about us when these artifacts of mineral and protein are all we've left behind. Bone is as embedded in our culture as it is in our bodies. Our species has made instruments and jewelry from bone, treated the dead like collectors' items, put our faith in skull bumps as guides to human behavior, and arranged skeletons into macabre tributes to the afterlife. Switek makes a compelling case for getting better acquainted with our skeletons, in all their surprising roles. Bridging the worlds of paleontology, anthropology, medicine, and forensics, Skeleton Keys illuminates the complex life of bones inside our bodies and out.

George Riley is given six weeks to live and Life of Riley charts the reactions of his closest friends as they struggle to come to terms with the news. "As perceptive as ever ... Ayckbourn has once again achieved a satisfyingly rich, tragi-comic complexity" Daily Telegraph