We The Champs

We The North. The slogan for the most successful era of Raptors' basketball was elevated to a new level with the stunning off-season acquisition of superstar Kawhi Leonard. Finally breaking through after years of knocking on the door of the Eastern Conference, the Raptors made history and brought the first championship home to Toronto since the Blue Jays in 1993. From an intriguing new coaching hire in Nick Nurse, to the Leonard trade, to a midseason addition of Marc Gasol, the 2018-2019 season was one of changing the identity of the team, building chemistry, and leading to the franchise's long-awaited first title. From making quick work of the Magic in the first round of the playoffs, to a Game 7 classic against the 76ers, to ripping off four straight wins versus the Bucks, the Raptors were destined to take down the defending champion Golden State Warriors on their way to becoming kings of the NBA. Packed with expert analysis and dynamic color photography, We The Champs: The Toronto Raptors' Historic Run to the 2019 NBA Title takes fans through the Raptors' historic and unforgettable journey, from Nurse and Leonard replacing Dwane Casey and DeMar DeRozan, to Pascal Siakam blossoming into a star, to Leonard's unbelievable four-bounce Game 7 game-winner against the 76ers. This commemorative edition also includes in-depth profiles of Leonard, Kyle Lowry, Masai Ujiri, and other fan favorites who played key roles in Toronto's extraordinary championship run.

Reading is one of the most important fundamental skills that children learn. Unfortunately, many children still struggle to read proficiently, leaving parents to seek alternative educational environments and educators to seek innovative teaching methods. With that in mind, seasoned reading specialist Rita Wirtz shares a commonsense, time-tested reading guide that offers a step-by-step approach for successfully instructing the fundamentals of reading to readers of all ages. Wirtz, a language arts and reading specialist who has taught at all levels for forty years, presents mini-lessons that focus on basic phonics instruction, proven strategies, and specific skills to help students • recognize words; • increase reading speed and fluency; • build and boost vocabulary; • correct basic reading errors and difficulties; and • build confidence as readers. Reading Champs provides fundamental building blocks and success secrets for any parent, tutor, and teacher with an aspiration to transform struggling readers into reading champions.

A nostalgic romp through modern NBA history as documented by basketball's most iconic and innovative magazine covers. Every magazine cover is the result of a series of intentional decisions. Cover Story shares the behind-the-scenes stories of these deliberate choices, which led to the most iconic basketball-related magazine covers during a period from 1984 to 2003. Through 100-plus interviews conducted with writers, editors, publishers, photographers, creative directors, and the players themselves, the book explores Michael Jordan's relationship with Sports Illustrated, Shaquille O'Neal and the hip-hop generation's impact on newsstands, the birth of SLAM and the inside stories of their most iconic covers, how the 1996 USA women's basketball team inspired a new era of women's sports magazines, the competition among publishers to put high school phenom LeBron James on the magazine cover first, and much more. Offering an immersive look at some of the most impactful moments in a golden era for modern basketball, this engaging read will appeal to basketball fans, pop culture enthusiasts, and those who want to take a deep dive into understanding how the individual components of a classic magazine cover come together. Features four full-color inserts showcasing a collection of notable magazine covers!

NBA Champs

"Darryl knows my game now. He knows what's going to work and what's not going to work. It's about fine-tuning it and always trying to improve.... It's an ongoing conversation about how to get better and how to pick up a little thing here or there to give yourself an advantage." —Patrick Kane, from his foreword An unmissable look at how even hockey's best find ways to get even better. Darryl Belfry is regarded as hockey's premier development coach, with clients including Sidney Crosby, Patrick Kane, John Tavares, and Auston Matthews. But his highly sought-after training methods aren't only for elite NHL stars; they have helped players of all levels uncover new pathways to performance excellence. Packed with fascinating stories and valuable insight, Belfry Hockey: Strategies to Teach the World's Best Athletes details this powerful curriculum, developed over years of persistent research. It's a system that emphasizes discovering authentic identity, pinpointing translatable skill, building a personal performance matrix, and more. Not only will players learn hundreds of techniques to improve their game, but teachers—inside and outside of hockey coaching—will gain an arsenal of groundbreaking strategies to connect with their students.