The Up Down Spring

When Rory and Derek go to their best friend Bolivia's house for spring break, everyone gets sick, and the vacation does not turn out quite as they had planned it. Reprint.

"This book vividly captures vital and imaginative lessons from one of the most influential and joyous traditions of contemporary actor training. Any actor or teacher, who is devoted to the transformational power of the theatre, will want to return to these pages again and again, finding in them not only the work to be done, but also the inspiration to do it." James Bundy - Dean, Yale School of Drama; Artistic Director, Yale Repertory Theatre Movement training techniques allow actors to acquire the physical body language and non-verbal skills to clearly express the ideas and emotions of their characters. The techniques contained in this book help actors to develop awareness of their own natural posture, walk and rhythm, release the physical imagination and transform into the characters they are portraying, on stage, in film or on television. Movement Training for Actors provides a practical workbook approach to the core fundamentals of movement, fusing together the work of the key practitioners: Sigurd Leeder, Kurt Jooss, Rudolf Laban, Trish Arnold, Litz Pisk, F. M. Alexander, Moshé Feldenkrais, Jerzy Growtowski, Jacques Lecoq and Belinda Quirey. Chapters include Games, Pure Movement, Historical Dance, Acrobatics and Animal Study. The book is illustrated with photographs throughout and contains a DVD featuring over an hour of movement exercises further demonstrating the techniques. Movement Training for Actors is a masterclass on movement written by experienced coach, Jackie Snow and a culmination of her many years of teaching and coaching professionals. The highly practical approach will suit actors of all abilities as well as serving as an inspirational teaching guide.

Spring is coming to The Café at the End of the Pier... A feelgood novella and the start of a brilliant new series... Jo has settled into running her grandparents' little café at the end of the pier in Salthaven. She's given it a spring-clean and a spruce-up and she's getting to know the locals and starting to enjoy life by the sea. But when her Harry, her ex-boyfriend, turns out to be her new accountant, feelings from the past start to flood back. He's here to help sort out the café's finances, which Jo's grandparents left in a mess, but Harry seems to have a hidden agenda and Jo isn't entirely sure spending time with him is a good idea. Jo throws herself into her new plans for the café - turning it into a real café of love by arranging blind dates for some of the regulars. Her own love life might be non-existent, but it doesn't mean she can't bring a little bit of magic to the locals who have made her so welcome. This time she chooses single-dad Ben and doctor Jess. Will they find love at The Café at the End of the Pier? And will Jo manage to put aside her feelings for Harry in order to give the café the future she dreams of for it...? ******** Readers love The Café at the End of the Pier: 'Brings a smile to your face and a tear to your eye' - Goodreads reviewer 'Heartwarming and made me smile... I can't wait to read more' - Goodreads reviewer 'Perfectly charming and totally yummy' - Amazon reviewer

Ahmam's Island is the new American release of the Taiwanese title Woman's Islands. The translation deals with a young woman living in Taipei, Taiwan as she prepares to visit her home village for the Chinese New Year. What she will discover on the trip home is the role family and society expectations play in what thought she knew about herself. What she will learn, is to accept who she wishes to become.

Sonora Spring Haiku, by poet and neuroscientist Judith Lauter, provides a photographic and poetic account of three spring months in the lush Sonoran desert near Tucson AZ. In a radical departure from the natural settings of most ‘classical’ haiku – a world of misty wetness, cranes, pagodas and perhaps a solitary, aged man – these poems evoke a stony landscape of space, sun, and sharp edges. Such an extremely wide range of application for the form shows us that poetry is perhaps the most flexible of the literary arts, capable of engaging almost any experience or geography.

Since its publication in 1962, Rachel Carson’s book Silent Spring has often been celebrated as the catalyst that sparked an American environmental movement. Yet environmental consciousness and environmental protest in some regions of the United States date back to the nineteenth century, with the advent of industrial manufacturing and consequent growth of cities. As these changes transformed peoples’ lives, ordinary Americans came to recognize the connections between economic exploitation, social inequality, and environmental problems. In turn, as the modern age dawned, they relied on labor unions, sportsmen’s clubs, racial and ethnic organizations, and community groups to respond accordingly. The Myth of Silent Spring tells this story. By challenging the canonical “songbirds and suburbs” interpretation associated with Carson and her work, the book gives readers a more accurate sense of the past and better prepares them for thinking and acting in the present.