New Releases by Elizabeth Ross

A family in transition is moving to a strange new concept of life. From isolation and freedom, to small town living, the children are used to wild animals, snakes, hills to climb and no close neighbors for miles. They will soon be confined to a home with untouchable, elegant furniture, rooms with wall-to-wall books, china dishes and crystal figurines, which are not to be touched. Houses as high as the lower mountain ranges that surrounded their one story family home in Wyoming, are seen on the streets of the Midwestern home of their Grandmother and her new husband. They are rancher’s children, not used to all the restraints on their lives. There is a rift between the families, that needs to be healed, but has been allowed to fester for several years. Grandmother is stern and haughty and is not looking forward to taking in three wild children, plus a daughter in law she has never met. She does not know that they have several surprises for her. Grandfather is a gentle giant that hopes to broker a peace between son and mother, but must tread with a light step, or lose his chance of having a happy wife and grandchildren, whom he wants to enjoy and delight in. How they move to make these changes, and adapt to the needs and wants of all concerned, is a bigger challenge than they anticipated. A beautiful, prize winning flower garden, is a point of contention. Flowers are to be looked at only, not touched or picked. Three flights of stairs inside the house are a mountain climbing experience the children make into a wonderful conquest. Trees so tall, you can see the leaves and branches from the highest windows, are a view into a new world. Small furry animals that scurry along the branches of the trees, feeding their babies, can be seen. The rift continues after accidental happenings change the course of the relationships, in a major way. How the families deal with each occurrence is both unsettling and unique. Grandmother finds herself drawn to her granddaughter, in spite of the child’s earsplitting, scream that irritates and frustrates her. The child is the delight of her grandfather, and has his heart. This will be a major obstacle to be overcome, for the grandparents.

For fans of Ruta Septys and Monica Hesse comes a lush historical mystery set in post-World War II America against the flashy backdrop of Hollywood's film studios about a shocking murder that threatens to unearth the ghosts of a young German immigrant's past. Hollywood, 1946. The war is over, and eighteen-year-old Clara Berg spends her days shelving reels as a vault girl at Silver Pacific Studios, with all her dreams pinned on getting a break in film editing. That and a real date with handsome yet unpredictable screenwriter Gil. But when she returns a reel of film to storage one night, Clara stumbles across the lifeless body of a woman in Vault 5. The costume, the makeup, the ash-blond hair are unmistakable--it has to be Babe Bannon, A-list star. And it looks like murder. Suddenly Clara's world is in free-fall, her future in movies upended--not to mention that her refugee parents are planning to return to Germany and don't want her to set foot on the studio lot again. As the Silver Blonde murder ignites Tinseltown, rumors and accusations swirl. The studio wants a quick solve, but the facts of the case keep shifting. Nothing is what it seems—not even the victim. Clara finds herself drawn, inevitably, to the murder investigation, and the dark side of Hollywood. But how far is she willing to go to find the truth?

Bernhard von Breydenbach’s Peregrinatio in terram sanctam (Journey to the Holy Land), first published in 1486, is one of the seminal books of early printing and is especially renowned for the originality of its woodcuts. In Picturing Experience in the Early Printed Book, Elizabeth Ross considers the Peregrinatio from a variety of perspectives to explain its value for the cultural history of the period. Breydenbach, a high-ranking cleric in Mainz, recruited the painter Erhard Reuwich of Utrecht for a religious and artistic adventure in a political hot spot—a pilgrimage to research the peoples, places, plants, and animals of the Levant. The book they published after their return ambitiously engaged with the potential of the new print medium to give an account of their experience. The Peregrinatio also aspired to rouse readers to a new crusade against Islam by depicting a contest in the Mediterranean between the Christian bastion of the city of Venice and the region’s Muslim empires. This crusading rhetoric fit neatly with the state of the printing industry in Mainz, which largely subsisted as a tool for bishops’ consolidation of authority, including selling the pope’s plans to combat the Ottoman Empire. Taking an artist on such an enterprise was unprecedented. Reuwich set a new benchmark for technical achievement with his woodcuts, notably a panorama of Venice that folds out to 1.62 meters in length and a foldout map that stretches from Damascus to Sudan around the first topographically accurate view of Jerusalem. The conception and execution of the Peregrinatio show how and why early printed books constructed new means of visual representation from existing ones—and how the form of a printed book emerged out of the interaction of eyewitness experience and medieval scholarship, real travel and spiritual pilgrimage, curiosity and fixed belief, texts and images.

When Maude Pichon runs away from provincial Brittany to Paris, her romantic dreams vanish as quickly as her savings. Desperate for work, she answers an unusual ad. The Durandeau Agency provides its clients with a unique service—the beauty foil. Hire a plain friend and become instantly more attractive. Monsieur Durandeau has made a fortune from wealthy socialites, and when the Countess Dubern needs a companion for her headstrong daughter, Isabelle, Maude is deemed the perfect adornment of plainness. Isabelle has no idea her new "friend" is the hired help, and Maude's very existence among the aristocracy hinges on her keeping the truth a secret. Yet the more she learns about Isabelle, the more her loyalty is tested. And the longer her deception continues, the more she has to lose. Inspired by a short story written by Emile Zola, Belle Epoque is set at the height of bohemian Paris, when the city was at the peak of decadence, men and women were at their most beautiful, and morality was at its most depraved. A YASLA William C. Morris Award Finalist A Junior Library Guild Selection “Both touching and fun, this is a story about many things—true friendship, real beauty, being caught between two worlds—and it will delight fans of historical fiction.”—Publishers Weekly “A refreshingly relevant and inspiring historical venture.”—Kirkus Reviews “A compelling story about friendship, the complexity of beauty, and self-discovery…full of strong female characters.”—School Library Journal “With resonant period detail, elegant narration, and a layered exploration of class and friendship, this provocative novel is rife with satisfaction.”—Booklist “Much to offer a contemporary YA audience…flirtation and match-making to tantalize romance fans…prime book-club fare.”—The Bulletin "This delectable Parisian tale left me sighting with sweet satisfaction. J'adore Belle Epoque!"-Sonya Sones, author of What My Mother Doesn't Know and To Be Perfectly Honest

Goodwin and Hubbell present 12 daily touchstones--simple and specific things any teacher can do every day--to keep classroom practice focused on the hallmarks of effective instruction and in line with three imperatives for teaching.

This book draws on the research and developments of the following decade to reanalyze and reevaluate the teaching strategies that have the most positive effect on student learning.

Learn how to improve instruction by * Collecting the right data--the right way. * Incorporating relevant data into everyone's daily life. * Resisting the impulse to set brand-new goals every year. * Never settling for "good enough." * Anticipating changes--big and small, local and federal. * Collaborating and avoiding privatized practice. * Involving all stakeholders in identifying problems, setting goals, and analyzing data. * Agreeing on what constitutes high-quality instruction and feedback. The challenge is to understand that data--not intuition or anecdotal reports--are tools to be used in getting better at teaching students. And teaching students effectively is what schools are all about. Following the guidance in this book, overcome uncertainty and concerns about data as you learn to collect and analyze both soft and hard data and use their secrets for instructional improvement in your school.

Since the dawn of time, one particular illusion has fascinated the greatest philosophers, physicists and psychologists - why does the moon appear so much larger on the horizon than when high up in the sky? This text investigates this illusion.

Australia's Indigenous population has experienced large increases in population counts in recent censuses. This paper examines the issues underlying Indigenous population growth and attempts to quantify elements of increase.

Haynes (c.1878-1953) was a pioneering sociologist, author of black children's literature, and an activist in black women's clubs, the YWCA, and politics. Unsung Heroes (1921), a biographical collection for children, documents the lives of prominent figures of African descent. The Black Boy of Atlanta (1952) also written for young readers, is Hayne's biography of Major Richard R. Wright. "Negroes in Domestic Service in the United States," published in The Journal of Negro History in 1923 was the subject of Ross Hayne's M.A. thesis and the first comprehensive study of the largest segment of black nonfarm workers. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

From Elizabeth Ross, MD, and Judith Sachs comes a comprehensive guide for women that shows how to take a holistic approach to preventing and recovering from heart disease.