New Releases by Amy Shields

A Spanish translation of National Geographic Readers Trains Level 1. Choo choo! Kids love trains! Especially the classic steam engines found in amusement parks and zoos. But what about a super-speeder in Japan that zooms along the track at 361 miles an hour (581 km/h)? Or the world''s longest freight train, stretching a whopping 4.6 miles (7.4 km)? Or futuristic railways in the sky? National Geographic Readers feature engaging text carefully vetted by expert educators and accompanied by magnificent National Geographic photography. Level 1 books are written for new readers and include a hands-on activity to reinforce the content of the book.

All aboard for a fun and fascinating exploration of the many kinds of trains and what they do. There are also clear definitions and "cool things about trains" that new readers will enjoy discovering.

This book explores the controversial social media practices engaged in by girls and young women, including sexual self-representations on social network sites, sexting, and self-harm vlogs. Informed by feminist media and cultural studies, Dobson delves beyond alarmist accounts to ask what it is we really fear about these practices.

All aboard for a fun and fascinating exploration of the many kinds of trains and what they do. There are also clear definitions and cool things about trains that new readers will enjoy discovering.

Linking to a popular feature in the super successful National Geographic Little Kids magazine, this book brings the browsable fun of the bestselling National Geographic Kids Almanac to a new audience: preschoolers! Using an interactive question-and-answer format and content grounded in a child''s immediate world, the Big Book of Why delivers lively information, hands-on games, simple recipes, crafts, and more. What makes a car go? How does mushy dough become a crispy cookie? What does the doctor see in my throat? An essential parent reference, The Big Book of Why invites children to ask big questions, think big thoughts, and get answers that are accurate, engaging, level-appropriate, and based on sound educational findings. It helps prepare preschoolers for school in an interactive way—the very best way to foster learning at this age, according to research. Highly photographic and playful, this big book is an adventure in exploration.

This is the first in a line of four books within the National Geographic Kids Chapters series that explore unexpected animal bonds. In this book you''ll meet four unlikely pairings, including Billy and Lilly. Billy the boxer adopted Lilly the goat when she was abandoned by her mother. Billy and Lilly are rarely apart since Billy has taken on the role of Lilly''s protector, caretaker, and constant companion. This and the other stories in this book will enchant readers and empower them to devour the more text-heavy "grown up" style of the book, while still keeping the story easily digestable for a hestitant reader. National Geographic supports K-12 educators with ELA Common Core Resources. Visit www.natgeoed.org/commoncore for more information.

These heartwarming stories of animal babies, rescued and nursed back to health by humans, will pull at the heart strings and make kids realize there''s a survivor inside all of us. This reader is illustrated with adorable photographs that document these animals'' recoveries. The carefully written text guarantees a successful and rewarding reading experience for level 1 readers. National Geographic supports K-12 educators with ELA Common Core Resources. Visit www.natgeoed.org/commoncore for more information.

"In Best Friends Forever, you''ll meet four unlikely pairs that prove love knows no bounds. There''s Suryia and Roscoe, the orangutan and dog swim buddies; Owen the baby hippo and his hero tortoise Mzee; Koko, the gorilla that speaks sign language and loves her kitties; and Jasmine, who befriends anyone that needs a helping hand. These true stories will amaze, inspire, and make you say "awww.""--

How cool is a supersonic jet that can zip, dip, and zoom through the air? Or a helicopter that hovers as still as a hummingbird? In this 32-page beginning reader, a real-life pilot introduces kids to the greatest planes that ever flew. Enticing photographs and fascinating facts ensure that a child’s natural curiosity is both inspired AND satisfied. Like each book in this successful series, Planes offers a high-excitement topic from a trusted content provider. National Geographic supports K-12 educators with ELA Common Core Resources. Visit www.natgeoed.org/commoncore for more information.

Choo Choo! Kids love trains! Especially the old-timey steam engines found in amusement parks and zoos. But what about a super-speeder in Japan that zooms on the track at 361 miles per hour? Or the world''s longest freight train, stretching on for a whopping 4.6 miles? Or futuristic railways in the sky? In this level 1 reader, young readers will discover a whole new way of looking at trains! National Geographic supports K-12 educators with ELA Common Core Resources. Visit www.natgeoed.org/commoncore for more information.

Now curious kids can learn about all their favorite holiday traditions in this fun, full-color, fact-?lled book. What do reindeer have to do with anything? What is the most popular Christmas present? Who is Santa, anyway? The fascinating answers inside will surprise and delight any kid who’s ever wondered about mistletoe, or frankincense and myrrh. For kids, and grownups, of any denomination, this book reveals the interesting facts behind this much- loved holiday. Bonus materials include holiday crafts by renowned children’s craft designer, Kathy Ross, and recipes for all types of yummy Christmas treats!

Provides answers to commonly asked questions such as "Why does my skin wrinkle in the tub?" and "Why do we see a rainbow?"

Discusses various types of planes and their different functions and uses.

This doctoral thesis examines the current phenomenon of highly assertive, heterosexualised, individualised and often ''traditionally unfeminine'' self-presentation by Australian young women on MySpace. The study is based on a sample of 45 public MySpace profiles owned by Australian women. The profiles were initially accessed between September 2007 and February 2008, and the owners were aged between 18 and 21 at that time. My research project is to see how some feminist conceptions of object/subject positions in representation apply to the MySpace representations when we view them as ''self-produced'' and ''freely chosen'' performative displays. I draw primarily from the disciplines of feminist media and performance studies. Such an analysis also tests the uses and limitations of these particular bodies of feminist theory within the new media context of ''DIY'' (do it yourself) representation, and more broadly, the current gender and new media landscape. My analysis of the data focuses on four different aspects of self-presentation that emerge as significant across the sample of profiles. First, I discuss images and graphic decorations on the profiles that align with the ''hetero-sexy'' and ''hyper-feminine'' aesthetics (both terms defined) also evident in contemporary popular culture. The question being whether such conventionally (hetero) ''sexualised'' imagery can possibly function as disruptive of object/subject boundaries, following Schneider''s criteria (1997), in this context of ''selfproduction''. Second, I analyse the presentation of close female friendships so common across the data, and the way that this is often coupled with a tone of exclusion of ''other'' young women. Third, I discuss the excessive displays of drunkenness and crudeness that may be described as a performance of ''laddishness'', but also, I suggest, may be productively analysed in relation to Bakhtin''s notion of the ''grotesque body'' (1968). Lastly, the textual mottos and self-descriptions commonly displayed by young women are discussed and analysed in terms of the way in which these multi-dimensional and chaotic performances of self seem to align broadly with post-modern theorisations of identity, as well as some feminist ideologies of subjectivity. I find that the object/subject binary is thrown into question by the very self-produced nature of MySpace media representation. The premise of self-production, agency, andchoice is a major complicating factor for feminist analysis of this phenomenon. This young feminine performativity on MySpace is also strong, assertive, active, and multifaceted, constituting a discrepancy with the way feminine performativity and representation has traditionally been theorised. However, it is not necessarily clear that object/subject binaries of gender performativity are meaningfully transgressed or questioned in the representations examined, when they are contextualised within the broader post-feminist and new media cultural climate. The MySpace performances of femininity, and my analysis of them, then, clearly highlight some areas of feminist media and performance theory that are in need of revision following cultural and technological developments in the representation of women.