The Planet Of The Grapes

"A funny space adventure that spoofs Star Wars while providing an easy-to-read story." —Booklist When Commander Toad finds a new planet that seems the ideal place for a picnic for his tired crew, he and Lieutenant Lily go down to look around first, only to be swallowed up by giant grapes. Is this the end for the brave crew of the Star Warts? Or can Doc Peeper, the ship's medical officer, help them escape from the Planet of the Grapes? Fans of DK Readers: LEGO Star Wars, Tom Angleberger's Origami Yoda, and silliness will toad-ally love Commander Toad!

A fascinating and comprehensive introduction to the geography, culture, and history of wine that identifies the significance of this simple beverage throughout human history and today. Wine was one the key founding foods of Western culture (bread and oil being the other two). It has played a key role in human history for thousands of years, having been used for enjoyment, rituals, and religious purposes; today, the production and consumption of wine is a billion-dollar industry that plays an important role in the global economy. Planet of the Grapes: A Geography of Wine provides an interesting and accessible lens through which students can learn about geography, culture, society, history, religion, and the environment. The chapters cover the historical geography of wine, document how drinking wine has often been condemned as a vice, and describe wines by region and type, thereby providing a cultural geography of wine. Readers will learn about the historical geography of wine, terroir (the environmental conditions that affect grape crops), grape biogeography, the process of winemaking from a geographic perspective, the economic global significance of the wine trade, the ongoing love-hate relationship between wine and government, and what makes individual wine regions distinct. The content is written to be comprehensible to individuals without detailed previous knowledge about wine but provides detailed information and insight that wine connoisseurs will find engaging. Additionally, through the story of wine comes a unique telling of the social transformations in America that have resulted from sources such as anti-immigrant sentiment, pseudoscience, and censorship.

A fascinating and comprehensive introduction to the geography, culture, and history of wine that identifies the significance of this simple beverage throughout human history and today. Wine was one the key founding foods of Western culture (bread and oil being the other two). It has played a key role in human history for thousands of years, having been used for enjoyment, rituals, and religious purposes; today, the production and consumption of wine is a billion-dollar industry that plays an important role in the global economy. Planet of the Grapes: A Geography of Wine provides an interesting and accessible lens through which students can learn about geography, culture, society, history, religion, and the environment. The chapters cover the historical geography of wine, document how drinking wine has often been condemned as a vice, and describe wines by region and type, thereby providing a cultural geography of wine. Readers will learn about the historical geography of wine, terroir (the environmental conditions that affect grape crops), grape biogeography, the process of winemaking from a geographic perspective, the economic global significance of the wine trade, the ongoing love-hate relationship between wine and government, and what makes individual wine regions distinct. The content is written to be comprehensible to individuals without detailed previous knowledge about wine but provides detailed information and insight that wine connoisseurs will find engaging. Additionally, through the story of wine comes a unique telling of the social transformations in America that have resulted from sources such as anti-immigrant sentiment, pseudoscience, and censorship.

Aliens, fairies and murder, oh, my! In small-town Doyle, California, UFO abductions are a budding tourist attraction. So, when Susan Witsend brings a UFO festival to town, she’s ready for some well-deserved time in the sun. What she gets instead is the corpse of a UFO conspiracy theorist, brained with a bottle of local wine. Susan may be the owner of a UFO-themed B&B, but she doesn’t wish on stars to get what she wants. She’s a woman with a planner. Plan A) Milk the UFO festival for all it’s worth. Plan B) Stop lusting after her best-friend-turned-security-consultant, Arsen Holiday. Plan C) Solve a murder. But murder isn’t the only thing threatening Susan’s best-laid plans. Beset by alien protestors, aging nudists, and hidden secrets at every turn, Susan’s nearing her wits’ end. And now Plan D is to stay on the good side of a grumpy local sheriff. Susan may not have a clue, but she knows she wants a certain security consultant at her side when this killer goes supernova. Planet of the Grapes is book 2 in the Wits’ End series of cozy mystery novels. If you like laugh-out-loud cozy mysteries, you’ll love Planet of the Grapes. Get cozy and start reading this quirky mystery today! Breakfast recipes at the back of the book.

"We are descended from grapes and we can live to a ripe old age. We are not just here without rhyme or raisin." So says Charles Darwine, Queen Vintoria's favourite stand-up comedian, but as always her Majesty is not amused. The population of Grape Britain is mysteriously disappearing and nobody seems to know why. Can the Wine Minister, Wineston Churchill, find a solution or will public enemy number wine, Guy Corks, finally manage to blow up the Housewines of Parliament? And just what dark secrets does her Majesty keep locked up in the wine cellars beneath Bucksfizz Palace? Uncork the original sketchpads of David Adamson and pour out a whole bunch of colourful characters who are born to be wine!

"With Catherine Fallis’s approach of ‘less is more,’ all you need to begin your wine journey are ten grapes." —Kevin Zraly It’s easy (or easier) to become a wine expert when you narrow the field down to ten grapes. For the wine drinker who loves Pinot Noir but doesn’t know what to try next, wants a French Chardonnay but isn’t sure what to look for on the bottle, or needs a little support before they open the wine menu at lunch with a client, Master Sommelier Catherine Fallis’s authoritative but inviting introduction to wine is an indispensable guide. Pinot Grigio, Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Viognier, Pinot Noir, Sangiovese, Syrah, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Zinfandel make the cut. The book covers the basics of tasting (and why wines taste the way they do), buying, and pairing wine. Fallis gives readers tricks to remember the difference between the côtes of Burgundy, offers dozens of specific recommendations in every price range, provides tips for talking to sommeliers, and shares memorable tasting exercises. This book will help readers build their wine confidence whether they’re looking for an inexpensive bottle for dinner at home or trying to impress the in- laws.

Meet the Magic Pickle, a dilly of a superhero who's fighting the food fight against a brotherhood of evil fruits and vegetables who are plotting to take over the world! Magic Pickle is a secret weapon developed in a secret military lab---under little JoJo Wigwam's bedroom floor. The fearless dill superhero meets his match in this feisty eight-year-old. Together they go after Ray Sin, a renegade raisin from the Brotherhood of Evil Produce. Ray Sin has a dastardly plan: to turn every human being on the planet into big, juicy, mindless grapes, so he can rule the world!

When Guy Corks stole the wine machine, little did he realise the damage he would cause to reality! Now a famous author and on the run from Winewood Scrubs prison he's determined to cause more trouble for the Planet of the Grapes. His plots help the Cidermen invade but the top-secret organisation UNFIT are there to save the planet...if they can. Meanwhile Jack the Riper's reign of terror continues - something that Queen Vintoria definitely does not find amusing!