The Uncle Book

Winner of the International Literacy Association Social Justice Literature Award An award-winning middle-grade novel about the power of grassroots activism and how kids can make a difference. Every day, nine-year-old Yasmin borrows a book from Book Uncle, a retired teacher who has set up a free lending library on the street corner. But when the mayor tries to shut down the rickety bookstand, Yasmin has to take her nose out of her book and do something. What can she do? The local elections are coming up, but she’s just a kid. She can’t even vote! Still, Yasmin has friends — her best friend, Reeni, and Anil, who even has a blue belt in karate. And she has family and neighbors. What’s more, she has an idea that came right out of the last book she borrowed from Book Uncle. So Yasmin and her friends get to work. Ideas grow like cracks in the sidewalk, and soon the whole effort is breezing along nicely... Or is it spinning right out of control? An energetic, funny and quirky story about community activism, friendship, and the love of books. Correlates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.3.2 Recount stories, including fables, folktales, and myths from diverse cultures; determine the central message, lesson, or moral and explain how it is conveyed through key details in the text. CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.3.6 Distinguish their own point of view from that of the narrator or those of the characters. CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.4.2 Determine a theme of a story, drama, or poem from details in the text; summarize the text.

There are more uncles than there are parents, more nieces and nephews than there are daughters and sons. Now, in The Uncle Book, Cogan has written a charming and instructive guide to handling the joys and responsibilities of being an uncle. Organized in an easy-to-browse format, it includes helpful sections on everything from changing diapers to childproofing your apartment, profiles of celebrity uncles, plus the ins and outs of planning birthday parties, playing Nintendo, and much more. With its wealth of information, insights and expert advice, The Uncle Book will lend support to nervous, new uncles as well as inspire experienced ones, and help to strengthen relationships between children and their uncles everywhere.

From martyr to insult, how “Uncle Tom” has influenced two centuries of racial politics. Jackie Robinson, President Barack Obama, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, O.J. Simpson and Christopher Darden have all been accused of being an Uncle Tom during their careers. How, why, and with what consequences for our society did Uncle Tom morph first into a servile old man and then to a racial epithet hurled at African American men deemed, by other Black people, to have betrayed their race? Uncle Tom, the eponymous figure in Harriet Beecher Stowe’s sentimental anti-slavery novel, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, was a loyal Christian who died a martyr’s death. But soon after the best-selling novel appeared, theatre troupes across North America and Europe transformed Stowe’s story into minstrel shows featuring white men in blackface. In Uncle, Cheryl Thompson traces Tom’s journey from literary character to racial trope. She explores how Uncle Tom came to be and exposes the relentless reworking of Uncle Tom into a nostalgic, racial metaphor with the power to shape how we see Black men, a distortion visible in everything from Uncle Ben and Rastus The Cream of Wheat chef to Shirley Temple and Bill “Bojangles” Robinson to Bill Cosby. In Donald Trump’s post-truth America, where nostalgia is used as a political tool to rewrite history, Uncle makes the case for why understanding the production of racial stereotypes matters more than ever before.

"Uncle Wiggily's Story Book" features a bunny rabbit gentleman that narrates a collection of funny and engaging stories. The main goal of the book is to teach children how to deal with various everyday situations, what behaviors to emulate, and which ones to regard as wrong.

Uncle is a millionaire elephant who has a B.A. and wears a purple dressing gown. He lives in a labyrinth of skyscrapers connected by water chutes, lifts and railways, and littered with oil lakes, walls of sweets and towers of treacle. He and his followers amuse themselves by exploring his home and falling into adventures with its inhabitants, a collection of lunatics, dwarfs and ghosts. Uncle also frequently fights with the inhabitants of neighbouring Badfort, among them the repulsive Jellytussles (a quivering blob) and the cowardly Hitmouse. 'A classic in the great English nonsense tradition' Observer

The behind-the-scenes story of a television classic, presenting a full illustrated account of the show's history, the program's remarkable surge in popularity, and the factors that led to the show's cancellation. Includes a complete episode guide. 80 black-and-white photographs.

In this sequel to the best-selling Uncle John’s Presents Book of the Dumb, guest author John Scalzi casts a wide net to bring readers more mind-boggling dumbosities perpetrated by dumb-doers. This time, to prove that dumb-nastics are not a modern phenomenon, Scalzi digs into the past to unearth some of history’s most ill-advised blunders. The lesson: Dumb is as dumb does. And you’ll be smarter for reading it.

Told from the perspective of their adoring nephew, Auntie Uncle: Drag Queen Hero is the story of a courageous drag queen who saves the day, and brings two communities together. The young narrator thinks it's awesome that his Uncle and his Auntie are the same person. Uncle Leo is an accountant, and is great at helping with math homework. Auntie Lotta is a fabulous performer, and loves to sing and dance with her nephew. One day Lotta's family comes to watch her perform at the local Pride parade. Suddenly, a dog breaks free of its leash and nearly causes a float-crash, but Lotta springs into action just in time to save the dog and the parade. The mayor wants to give her a medal for courage and to throw a big party for her and all her friends, but Lotta worries that her friends who only know him as "Leo" won't get along with her fellow drag performers who know her as "Lotta." With the help of their nephew they put together a fierce look that is both Leo and Lotta, the perfect ensemble for an Auntie Uncle. A sweet, uplifting story about fearlessley letting your true self shine.