New Releases by Jan Thomas

Rabbit needs to clean her room, but when Pete the Problem-Solving Porcupine''s plan causes more of a mess, Rabbit needs to quickly come up with her own strategy before chaos ensues.

In three stories, Red Robot and Blue Robot learn that gratitude is not always easy, but best friends are something to be thankful for.

Meet two robots who are best friends and learn through their mistakes and make-ups that even robots aren’t perfect in this silly and sweet three-part picture book. Red Robot and Blue Robot are very good friends. But sometimes friends say the wrong thing. And sometimes friends don’t understand. And, very often, friends make mistakes. In three hilarious and heartwarming stories, Red Robot and Blue Robot find out that even robots aren’t perfect but that doesn’t mean they aren’t perfectly best friends.

After falling out of Farmer’s truck, Chicken must find his own way home in this goofy, laugh-out-loud story about overcoming obstacles and believing in yourself. It has not been a good day for Chicken. He went to the fair with Farmer, but didn’t win even one ribbon. And on the way home, the road is so bumpy that Farmer’s truck knocks Chicken right out! He’s been left behind! It’s the end for Chicken. Surely, he can’t walk all the way home. Or avoid the hungry fox along the way. Or maybe…he can? This rollicking picture book will have little ones in giggles over Chicken’s misadventures and chiming in on the plucky fowl’s mantra “I am a strong and powerful and nice-looking chicken!” as he achieves more than he thought possible.

Thinking Differently is a groundbreaking guide for what it takes for nonlinear thinkers to thrive and excel in today''s world. When you start a new project, do you find yourself wanting the big picture to help make sense of what you are getting into? Are you optimistic (sometimes overly so) about how much you can accomplish in a given amount of time? If these ways of thinking sound familiar, you could well be a nonlinear thinker with special talents that you might not be aware of, or using to full potential. For generations, linear and prescriptive thinking have controlled what counts for progress and value, though times have changed--different, nonlinear talents are in demand today. Neuroscience findings have exploded, but little is written specifically for the needs of nonlinear thinkers, who thrive on visual learning and stories that demonstrate a concept in action. Developed with 30 years of research and working hands-on with nonlinear thinkers, Thinking Differently lays out the landscape of what nonlinear thinking looks like, highlighting the four distinctions that set this thinking apart. It introduces a unique set of proven FLEX Strategies that actually work with how your mind works, enables you to navigate your environment with confidence, and shows how to self-advocate for what you need to transform how you live, work, and lead. You will discover what works best for you and most importantly, why.

We analyze the substitutability between brick-and-mortar stores and e-Commerce. Using a novel data set on the German book market we find that between 26 and 55% of the decrease in book sales from 2014-2017 can be explained by the decrease in the number of bookstores. This indicates that brick-and-mortar stores and e-Commerce are imperfect substitutes. One explanation could be that some consumers prefer to purchase books offline because of the service provision in brick-and-mortar stores (e.g., advice, atmosphere, presentation, salese ffort, etc.). We also find that the degree of substitutability differs between different types of books. When a bookshop closes the decrease in sales of fiction titles is more than 2 times larger than the decrease in sales of non-fiction titles. Our findings indicate that regulatory measures and vertical restraints that increase the number of bookstores can have a positive effect on the demand for books even in the presence of e-Commerce.

We empirically analyze the role of e-Commerce and brick-and-mortar retailers in discovering new bestsellers in the book market, using the German market as an example. Using an AR(1)-Process, we find that when a title becomes a bestseller sales increase in e-Commerce and decrease in brick-and-mortar stores relative to a title that is not on the bestseller-list. This finding implies that consumers in the online channel respond by increasing sales upon receiving a quality signal (i.e., a title becoming a bestseller). Consumers in the offline channel seem to already know that title so that, compared to a title that is not on the bestseller-lists, sales are decreasing. This might imply that consumers in the offline channel are more likely to read future bestsellers.

Born at the edge of an open-pit copper mine in New Mexico, Jan Thomas comes from a background of working-class people, cultural Christians, but not committed believers. Growing up, he had influences and experiences causing doubts about himself and his ability to become more than his environment would have predicted. Influenced by teachers, Air Force buddies, and others, he began to trust God to do in him what he could not do for himself. As a youngster he thought he had no academic ability, but got BA and MDiv degrees. As a pastor he felt like a failure and began a career working in prisons. Struggling with life, he continued to try to serve. He married Fern, a widow with two children, and they had another child together. He became an administrator after only a few years; but his codependent nature, the desire to fit in, and to be liked at any cost nearly cost him his life. An old alcohol issue came back, at a time he was involved in two of the most amazing ministries of the twenty-first century, Celebrate Recovery and Kairos. Retiring in 1997, he began using CR in the prison he retired from. He was asked to help get the program into jails and prisons and became the first national director of Celebrate Recovery Inside. Celebrate Recovery Inside stretches across the United States and Canada as well as in many nations elsewhere. His own struggles have helped him become dedicated to the purpose God intended for him from the beginning. His ministry was not as a pastor but to those, like him, who struggled with life''s issues. When he stopped teaching and started the healing process for himself, God helped him to stop blundering and begin to see more of God''s blessing.

Geothermal resources are capable of providing baseload renewable energy while reducing our effects on climate change. Technological advancements have enabled society to harness thermal energy from co-produced water of oil and gas wells for electricity generation. The Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) is a thermodynamic cycle designed to convert thermal energy into mechanical energy and ultimately electrical energy. Typically, the heat conversion system uses fluids with low temperatures to medium temperatures of 70 - 328 °C (158 - 622 °F) to generate electricity. Modern innovations of the ORC such as the ElectraTherm Power+ Generator and the Climeon Heat Power System are designed precisely for low temperature co-produced water. The Texas counties of Karnes and Gonzales were chosen for this study because heat moves at a high rate from the Earth''s interior to the surface in this region. High heat flow in the United States is generally observed in the western states; however, the selected area showcases an anomaly located in South Texas. The Eagle Ford Shale was targeted during the course of this research because Karnes County and Gonzales County have produced significant volumes of oil within the past decade. Data were requested from a private oil and gas company. Using the data received, active oil wells were selected based on a wellhead temperature of 80 °C (176 °F) or higher, water production of 100,000 bbl/year or more, and a true vertical depth of 5,000 feet or more. Two analyses were carried out during the study with the use of three mathematical models: Exergy, ElectraTherm, and Climeon. The first 12 months of water production for 10 active oil wells were examined in the first analysis and proved to be too low for co-produced electricity generation. A second analysis was conducted by assigning 3,650,000 bbl/year to each well in order to meet the flow rate requirement of ElectraTherm and Climeon ORC units. When ranked from highest to lowest potential, the results in both analyses showed the electricity generation potential to be Exergy, Climeon, and ElectraTherm. The actual flow rates for the wells in this study were too low to efficiently produce electricity. High flow rates would ensure a slight variation between respective oil wells'' bottom hole and wellhead temperatures. One factor towards attaining high flow rates would require increasing water production, which is not typical of oil and gas production practices. Future studies should explore co-produced electricity production during secondary oil recovery processes.

This novel is about the insurmountable issues of dating, sex, faith, and marriage. The number of trips that take waiting time called trials and tribulations, adversity, love''s enemies, and all of this being foreign territory, alien concepts, to deal with to eliminate bed hopping from one relationship to another while things seem like they are working not outright. Wait on God and work thru the pre-marital baggage and issues and get set for marriage and all of its parameters!

This “rollicking” picture book is “laugh-out-loud” fun for new readers (Publishers Weekly, starred review). What will Fat Cat sit on? The pig? (Oink!) The chicken? (Cluck!) How about the dog? (Grrrr.) Everyone in this bumbling animal gang—understandably—hopes the victim will be someone else! Leave it to Mouse to come up with a brilliant solution that satisfies everyone, even Fat Cat himself. Filled with hilarious asides and an interactive question-answer format, this irreverent picture book will delight little ones who love to shout “NO!” “Fun to read aloud, it would also make an effective early reader for preschoolers.”—The New York Times Book Review “A cat that puts Garfield to shame…a lot of laughs. This is a book that toddlers and new readers will reach for again and again.”—Kirkus Reviews

A delightfully silly picture book for new readers: “This hilarious story is a fun read-aloud.”—School Library Journal Dog''s toothbrush is missing. Has anybody seen it? Maybe…But what does a toothbrush look like? Donkey wonders. Featuring Jan Thomas’s wonderfully wacky humor, rowdy repetitions, and hilarious characters, this book is sure to have young readers laughing out loud! “A droll knee-slapper for newly emergent readers.”—Booklist

Invites readers to guess, along with Sheep''s friends, the mysterious thing that starts with the letter F that makes Sheep happy.

A ladybug invites the reader to play a game of "let''s pretend."

What is chasing Duck? Is it something wild and hairy? Does it have big teeth? Who will help protect Duck? Featuring Jan Thomas’s wonderfully wacky humor, rowdy repetitions, and hilarious characters, this book is sure to have young readers laughing out loud!

Someone’s eating all the veggies in this colorful picture book with “a satisfying, funny conclusion” (Kirkus Reviews). There’s a pest in the garden and he’s eating all the vegetables! But Duck has a plan to save the day (well, sort of)… Featuring Jan Thomas’s wonderfully wacky humor, rowdy repetitions, and hilarious characters, this book is sure to have young readers laughing out loud!

"Mouse and Cow are making soup, but Pig keeps trying to add strange ingredients"--

One bullet equals one kill. For SWAT sniper Jake Denton, the bullet casings he saves as grim reminders of his "kills" are beginning to add up. His wife, his department-ordered psychiatrist, and even Jake himself are all beginning to question just how these sanctioned kills are affecting his mental health. Nobody wants him to end up like Lee Staley, his mentor and ex-partner---now out on permanent psych leave, drinking himself to death, and the prime suspect in a series of shootings that have paralyzed Northern California. Jake doesn''t believe that Staley''s guilty, but since their job has taught them to kill, how easy would it be for his friend to cross over to the other side? How easy would it be for him? On every police force in the country, there''s a SWAT sniper going about his daily life, acting like an average cop, until the moment when the call comes in. Then they become a hostage''s last hope and a criminal''s worst nightmare. To some, they are silent heroes---to others, silent killers. Grant Jerkins and Jan Thomas''s Done in One pulls back the curtain on their world.

We analyze price limits as decision aids for identifying favorable and unfavorable contracts from the perspective of a selling firm. The corresponding decision problem is shaped by uncertainty of the outcomes and incomplete information about the decision maker''s preferences. The proposed price limits are based on the theory of almost stochastic dominance. We make this theory more applicable by contributing a version of almost second-degree stochastic dominance that (1) refers to the same aggregate information about marginal utilities as almost first-degree stochastic dominance, (2) does without information about higher order derivatives of the utility function, and (3) is implied by almost first-degree stochastic dominance (hierarchy property). Numerical examples show that the incomplete preference information may lead to substantial improvements of the price limits relative to the situation where no preference information is available.

The dust bunnies are back for another round of rhyming fun. But this time a big MEAN dust bunny wants to play—and run and chase and grab! Can the four little dust bunnies get that bully to play nice? Jan Thomas’s lovable critters shine again in this hilarious rhyme-filled book that starts with scares and ends with…smiles.

Jan Thomas was abused by her father from the age of eleven; her mother refused to believe that it was happening. Today Jan has achieved freedom and a measure of success in life despite everything but she has children she is not allowed to see and she has discovered that her problems are partly due to Asperger''s syndrome. This is her story.

Children will be the death of you, Especially if they spike your wine with antifreeze. That is what Mathew Derrick suspects his precious young Sarah did to her mother so that she could have daddy all to herself. But the police think that he killed his wife after discovering that his daughter was the product of an extra-marital affair. Rather than face the wrath of the law he takes little Sarah and runs. Although he manages to elude the law, he can''t escape Sarah''s unquenchable wrath for the women in his life. Could this adorable and seemingly innocent child really be a murderess? And if not, who is killing the loves of his life, and why?

Despite the objections of Pig and Mouse, Duck insists on adding a special ingredient to the cake they are making to celebrate Cow''s birthday.

This paper studies transfer prices influencing managerial decisions and determining corporate taxes in a multinational firm. Common sense suggests that the transfer price decision should be made to maximize the firm''s after-tax profit and thus achieve the optimal trade-off between pre-tax profitability and tax minimization. Based on a model of a decentralized firm facing asymmetric information with respect to operations, I examine why this conclusion does not hold in general. In particular, I demonstrate that a policy of negotiated transfer pricing, under which the divisions exploit their superior information but select the transfer price to maximize the firm''s pre-tax profit, is the firm''s optimal organizational choice if the high-tax division''s productivity is high. With respect to the firm''s discretion over the transfer price, I identify situations where the firm''s optimal policy choice does not depend on the arm''s length range and where less discretion increases the firm''s profitability.

On Wings of Peace is an innocent love story between a Mermaid and a Sea Gull. Though seemingly an impossible fantasy, it transcends far beyond the barriers of age and time. The story weaves itself into a profound commentary on human behavior and ends on a heart warming note that will bring both joy and tears to any reader regardless of gender or generation. This is not a children''s book yet it contains no violence, sex or profanity. It''s about what happens when two most unlikely characters meet and fall in love. The journey began within the creative recesses of my mind and evolved into a new dimension of truth somewhere along the way. Imagination is the key that unlocks any story worth telling. Imagination keeps us sane because we can escape into a world we create for ourselves and resolve the conflagrations of every day existence when we find a higher place where the sun always shines and the air is clean and fresh. On Wings of Peace discovers that better place we all seek. A fantastic voyage brings meaning to why we''re here, what we can be, and who we are. In the end, the answer is revealed somewhere within the dream. What we believe becomes our reality, and that could be anything. Anything at all. JTL

This playful picture book with audio from Jan Thomas features a courageous cowboy who croons to his cows before bed—with just a few fearful interruptions. Join the Brave Cowboy as he tries to sing his young calf pals to sleep on a dark, dark night—EEEEEEEK! IS THAT A HUGE HAIRY SPIDER OVER THERE? Oh, it’s just a flower? Well then, back to the lullaby. No one does preschool humor with Jan Thomas’s wit, verve, and bold, snappy color. And her Brave Cowboy and his silly, interrupted lullaby are sure to get everybody singing—before they head off into cozy dreamland…

Easter? I’m so excited!