The New David Espinoza

Differences That Make A Difference written by Pedro David Espinoza and Jorge Luis Titinger highlights the importance of inclusion, belonging, and diversity for companies to innovate. Thank you!

This story from the acclaimed author of The Closest I’ve Come unflinchingly examines steroid abuse and male body dysmorphia. Perfect for fans of Jason Reynolds and Matt de la Peña. David Espinoza is tired of being messed with. When a video of him getting knocked down by a bully’s slap goes viral at the end of junior year, David vows to use the summer to bulk up— do what it takes to become a man—and wow everyone when school starts again the fall. Soon David is spending all his time and money at Iron Life, a nearby gym that’s full of bodybuilders. Frustrated with his slow progress, his life eventually becomes all about his muscle gains. As it says on the Iron Life wall, What does not kill me makes me stronger. As David falls into the dark side of the bodybuilding world, pursuing his ideal body at all costs, he’ll have to grapple with the fact that it could actually cost him everything. A Chicago Public Library Best Teen Fiction Selection A Banks Street Best Children's Book of the Year

Learn how to use literature and informational texts related to sports as an alternative or a supplement to a canon-centric English classroom. This practical book promotes an instructional approach that honors students’ knowledge of, interests in, and experiences with sports culture to advance literacy learning. Informed by his own experiences in high school classrooms, the author documents the distinct methods employed by four secondary English teachers in rural, urban, and suburban schools. Each narrative features the voices of teachers and students and details a range of activities that readers can adapt for their unique contexts. Whether teaching traditional English courses or those focused on the study of sports literature, teachers can use this book to tap into students’ sporting interests and foster critical readings of sports culture as a mirror to our greater society. Book Features:Adaptable methods for using sports-related content to foster the six language arts: reading, writing, speaking, listening, viewing, and visually representing.Actionable ideas for going beyond sports fandom and, instead, reading sports culture through a critical lens.Implications for incorporating sports culture into the English curriculum, whether teaching traditional courses or a stand-alone sports literature class.Answers to frequently asked questions that can support teachers as they bring sports culture to the English classroom. “Luke Rodesiler demonstrates that moving beyond traditional canonical texts and topics contributes to an understanding that racism, sexism, inequity, and inequality of all kinds are current ongoing problems. When we expand our teaching to include new topics and new voices, we can invigorate our teaching in ways that make it matter more—in both the immediate and the long term.” —From the Foreword by Jeffrey D. Wilhelm, Distinguished Professor, Boise State University

Teaching Diversity in Rural Schools: Attaining Understanding, Tolerance, and Respect Through Young Adult Literature aims to assist secondary English Language Arts rural educatorsand students regarding diversity education through the use of rural, small town-themed young adult literature. While appropriate for any rural educator, the Upper Midwestern states (IA, MN, MT, NE, ND, SD, and WY) are focused on because they are unique in their predominantly White residents, with few to no racial and cultural minorities in all locations, large or small. Teaching rural students about minorities and facilitating in developing understanding, tolerance, and respect toward those different from oneself is difficult when absent from communities and schools. However, this book helps in reaching these goals through the use of titles that consider specific topics of cultural and racial minorities, such as those who are LGBTQ+, undocumented, homeless, having exceptionalities, managing grief/loss, and more. Also addressed are rural communities and schools, the purpose and importance of young adult literature, and locating quality rural, small town-themed novels. Suggestions for using this literature, activities, discussion topics, and recommended titles are also provided.

This encyclopedia explores exercise and physical activity from a variety of angles, including anatomy and exercise science, health benefits and risks, the wide array of sports and recreational activities available, and the sociocultural context of physical fitness. Exercise and Physical Activity: From Health Benefits to Fitness Crazes is a one-volume encyclopedia featuring more than 200 entries that cover a multitude of exercise-related topics. Content is divided across five broad themes: anatomy, exercise science, sports and activities, health benefits and risks, and exercise and society. The anatomy theme includes entries on all the major skeletal muscle groups and associated connective tissues. Within the exercise science theme, entries focus on topics within the fields of physiology, kinesiology, and sports psychology. Profiles of more than 70 sports and recreational activities are included. Entries under the theme of health benefits and risks explore the effects of exercise on many of the body's physiological processes and related systems, as well as specific sports-related injuries. Exercise and society entries profile influential individuals and organizations, as well as fitness trends. Together, these themes support a holistic understanding of exercise, encompassing both the theoretical and the practical.

SQuire Rushnell and Louise DuArt have practiced daily prayer together for sixteen years. Now they offer readers step-by-step advice on why and how to pray with another person. The 40 Day Prayer Challenge answers the question they hear from readers daily: How do you pray with someone else? The authors also explain how Partnered Prayer—which sounds like a new idea, but comes from ancient biblical promises—restores relation­ships and revitalizes families. Supported by the testimony of dozens of praying partners who themselves became empowered by taking The Challenge, the authors explain how a couple, a mother and son, or two close friends can pray together for five minutes a day for forty days and experience phenomenal outcomes. SQuire and Louise show how churches, small groups, and individual partners can participate in a groundbreaking national initiative called historic—a first-ever empirical study by Baylor University—while personally measuring their own Partnered Prayer progress.

A Kirkus Best Book of 2017 * A New York Public Library Best Book of the Year * An ALA/YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults Selection Read the book Morris Award finalist Sonia Patel called "a brilliant, subtle debut," and Kirkus hailed as "heart-wrenching, funny, hopeful, and not-to-be-missed" in a starred review! The Closest I’ve Come is a must-read from talented first-time author Fred Aceves, in the tradition of Walter Dean Myers. Marcos Rivas yearns for love, a working cell phone, and maybe a pair of sneakers that aren’t falling apart. But more than anything, Marcos wants to get out of Maesta, his hood, away from his indifferent mom and her abusive boyfriend—which seems impossible. When Marcos is placed in a new after-school program, he meets Zach and Amy, whose friendship inspires Marcos to open up to his Maesta crew, too, and starts to think more about his future and what he has to fight for. Marcos ultimately learns that bravery isn’t about acting tough and being macho; it’s about being true to yourself. The Closest I’ve Come is a story about traversing real and imagined boundaries, about discovering new things in the world, and about discovering yourself, too.