Best Selling Books by Adam Rubin

From the creators of the "New York Times" bestseller "Dragons Love Tacos" comes a rollicking, rhyme-tastic, interactive book where kids discover the lost art of the high five and improve their slapping skills. From hand-limbering stretches to lessons on five-ing with finesse, readers are guided through a series of interactive challenges. Full color.

Discover the art of the high five and improve your slapping skills just in time for the annual high five contest! From hand-limbering stretches to lessons on five-ing with finesse, readers are guided through a series of interactive challenges.

In cities across the country, educators and civic leaders are taking on the challenge of transforming large, failing high schools where graduation rates have remained below 50 percent for many years. They are replacing these high schools with small schools that will prepare students in underserved urban communities to meet the high standards needed to be successful in college and beyond. In New York City, Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the Department of Education have created nearly 200 small high schools in an aggressive effort to improve the city''s graduation rates. As part of this effort, New Visions for Public Schools has led the New Century High Schools Initiative (NCHSI) and created more than 80 of these schools. The sitting of these schools raises significant questions. How can facilities built to educate large numbers of students in a single school be reconfigured as homes for several small schools? This pamphlet describes the visual branding process piloted on 16 campuses in New York City. In collaboration with the New York City Department of Education, the School Construction Authority (SCA), and the many stakeholders involved in these schools. New Visions and its partner Print International conceptualized, refined, and implemented the visual branding system.

A selection of picture books and easy readers on a full-color Kindle Fire.

Rapid neuromuscular adaptations were evaluated in response to a two-day strength training protocol designed to elicit quick jumps in strength and improved muscular performance in older adults. The protocol produced rapid improvements in strength without the soreness typically observed at the onset of strength training. Twenty older adults (7 men and 13 women, 76 +- 6 years) participated in two strength-training sessions of low-resistance, high-velocity plantar flexion exercises separated by 48-hours. On three test days separated by 48 hours, maximal voluntary torque, muscle contractility, motor neuron excitability, and electromyographic activity of the triceps surae were measured. Exercise training followed testing on days 1 and 2. The voluntary tests provided measures of maximal plantar flexion torque (MVT), maximal rate of torque development (RTD), and reaction time. Resting muscle twitches were recorded before and after a 10-second maximal voluntary contraction (MVC) and provided measures of contractility for resting and potentiated muscle. The H-reflex was recorded from the soleus to provide a measure of motor neuron excitability. There were significant increases in MVT (F 2,38 = 5.606, p = 0.007) and the extent of post-activation potentiation (F 2,38 = 3.901, p = 0.029). RTD showed a trend parallel to MVT toward improved performance, increasing 23.7%, but the improvement was not significant (F 2,38 = 1.244, p = 0.300). No changes were observed in reaction time or motor neuron excitability (H-reflex). The brief duration of this training protocol was sufficient to improve strength prior to hypertrophy and post activation potentiation exhibited rapid enhancement in older adults.

A long time ago, a girl named Carla lived on a goat farm with her father, Hector. One night, a goat disappeared from the farm and turned up flat as a pancake. Only one creature could do that--El Chupacabras, the goatsucker! Legend has it that El Chupacabras is a fearsome beast, but you can''t believe everything you hear...and sometimes the truth is even more interesting. Told in equal parts English and Spanish by bestselling author Adam Rubin, and cinematically illustrated by acclaimed Hollywood creature creator Crash McCreery, this lighthearted take on a modern legend is not told in the traditional bilingual style. Each sentence is half-Spanish/half-English followed by a repetition of the same line translated the other way around. This mirroring technique allows the languages to intermingle equally. A fun and unique way to introduce either Spanish or English to new readers.

Pssst! Hey. I''m here to tell ya what the furniture police don''t want you to know... Listen close. I''ll explain everything. Most people think couches are just for sitting, or maybe napping, and don''t give it a second thought. But did you know couches can go berserk if you don''t feed them a steady diet of coins, cell phones, and remote controls? And did you know some couches are grown on a farm? (Where do you think the term couch potato comes from?) Some come from two chairs who love each other very much, and some are actually aliens in disguise. And that''s just the tip of the iceberg... This laugh-out-loud send-up of conspiracy theories brings Adam Rubin''s trademark zany humor together with the richly expressive artwork of Macanudo creator Liniers to explore the totally, completely true (really! maybe?) history of the world''s most beloved--and misunderstood--item of furniture.