Best Selling Books by Alan Katz

"Keep your friends close and your enemies closer! When Snowball, the puffball hamster in Ms. Kim''s classroom, accidentally sips the teacher''s leftover protein shake, she transforms into a monster like Beacher Elementary School has never known before. It''s all hands on deck to stop Snowball before it''s too late. And to do that, Milton Worthy is going to do have to team up with Noah, the part-time classroom ferret, full-time evil mastermind! Will Milton and Noah be able to work together in time to stop Snowball and save the world?"--

Objectives: Breastfeeding is associated with improved health. Surveillance data show that breastfeeding initiation rates have increased; however, imited work has examined trends in socio-economic inequalities in initiation. The study''s research question was whether socio-economic inequalities in breastfeeding initiation have changed over the past 20 years. Methods: This population-based study is a project within PATHS Equity for Children. Analyses used hospital discharge data for Manitoba mother-infant dyads with live births, 1988-2011 (n=316,027). Income quintiles were created, each with ~20% of dyads. Three-year, overall and byquintile breastfeeding initiation rates were estimated for Manitoba and two hospitals. Age-adjusted rates were estimated for Manitoba. Rates were modelled using generalized linear models. Three measures, rate ratios (RRs), rate differences (RDs) and concentration indices, assessed inequality at each time point. We also compared concentration indices with Gini coefficients to assess breastfeeding inequality vis-à-vis income inequality. Trend analyses tested for changes over time. Results: Manitoba and Hospital A initiation rates increased; Hospital B rates did not change. Significant inequalities existed in nearly every period, across all three measures: RRs, RDs and concentration indices. RRs and concentration indices suggested little to no change in inequality from 1988 to 2011. RDs for Manitoba (comparing initiation in the highest to lowest income quintiles) did not change significantly over time. RDs decreased for Hospital A, suggesting decreasing socio-economic inequalities in breastfeeding; RDs increased for Hospital B. Income inequality increased significantly in Manitoba during the study period. Conclusions: Overall breastfeeding initiation rates can improve while inequality persists or worsens.

Well-known songs with new lyrics encourage toddlers to trade in their diapers for the potty chair, including "If You Gotta Go Do Poopy," sung to the tune of "If You''re Happy and You Know It."

Milton Worthy can''t wait for his class trip to the City Zoo. But little does he know that Noah--part time classroom pet ferret, part time evil mastermind--has escaped and stowed away on his school bus. Good thing that Mrs. Worthy, ace world-saving, member of the super-secret Society of Substitutes, is along for the ride! Will Milton and his super-substitute mom be able to stop the zoo from running completely wild?

"When Misty and her friends head to the Sea Breeze Carnival, they ride the rides, pose for photos, and play their favorite games. Best of all, they enjoy the updraft, which is created by warm and cool air colliding. Nothing like a summer wind at the beach!"--

"During the spring, a season of change, Misty the Cloud and friends must do their part to help things grow on Earth as the days get longer and the weather turns warmer"--