Best Selling Books by Valerie Thomas

There was something on the doormat. Something with big green eyes . . . Winnie and her black cat, Wilbur, are all tucked into bed when, suddenly, Wilbur is woken up by a strange noise. There''s a baby dragon at the door! Soon Winnie finds her house filled with breaking bowls, armor clattering down the stairs, puffs of smoke . . . and even clouds of butterflies. What''s a witch to do?

The therapeutic potential of working with clients'' mental images is widely acknowledged, yet there is still little in the counselling and psychotherapy literature on more inclusive approaches to the clinical applications of mental imagery. Using Mental Imagery in Counselling and Psychotherapy is a unique, accessible guide for counsellors and psychotherapists who wish to develop their expertise in this important therapeutic practice. Contemporary practitioners have at their disposal a large repertoire of imagery methods and procedures comprising the contributions from different therapeutic schools and clinical innovators. Valerie Thomas identifies some of the common features in these approaches and offers a transtheoretical framework that supports integrative practitioners in understanding and using mental imagery to enhance therapeutic processes. The book: Examines the development of the theory and practice of mental imagery within a wider context of the history of imagination as a healing modality; Describes the different ways that mental imagery has been incorporated into therapeutic practice and evaluates recent developments; Reviews explanations of the therapeutic efficacy of mental imagery and considers how recent theoretical concepts provide a means of understanding the role that mental images play in processing experience; Includes reflections on ways to develop more inclusive theory and proposes a model that can inform integrative practice. Using a wide range of clinical vignettes to illustrate theory and cutting-edge research, Valerie Thomas proposes a new integrated model of practice. Providing clear and detailed guidance on applying the model to clinical practice, the book will be essential reading for psychotherapists and counsellors, both in practice and training, who wish to harness the therapeutic efficacy of mental imagery.

Winnie lived in her black house with her cat, Wilbur. He was black too. And that is how the trouble began. Everything in Winnies house is black—the carpet, the chairs, the bed and the sheets, the pictures on the walls, and even the bathtub! And of course her cat, Wilbur, is black too—all except for his bright-green eyes. Whenever poor Wilbur closes his eyes and tries to take a catnap, Winnie stumbles right over him. Or accidentally sits on top of him. Until one day, when Winnie gets a brilliant idea. What if Wilbur were a different color?

The best defense against the increasing threat of social engineering attacks is Security Awareness Training to warn your organization''s staff of the risk and educate them on how to protect your organization''s data. Social engineering is not a new tactic, but Building an Security Awareness Program is the first book that shows you how to build a successful security awareness training program from the ground up. Building an Security Awareness Program provides you with a sound technical basis for developing a new training program. The book also tells you the best ways to garner management support for implementing the program. Author Bill Gardner is one of the founding members of the Security Awareness Training Framework. Here, he walks you through the process of developing an engaging and successful training program for your organization that will help you and your staff defend your systems, networks, mobile devices, and data. Forewords written by Dave Kennedy and Kevin Mitnick! - The most practical guide to setting up a Security Awareness training program in your organization - Real world examples show you how cyber criminals commit their crimes, and what you can do to keep you and your data safe - Learn how to propose a new program to management, and what the benefits are to staff and your company - Find out about various types of training, the best training cycle to use, metrics for success, and methods for building an engaging and successful program

In Winnie and Wilbur''s latest adventure, Winnie wakes up from an afternoon nap to find her beloved black cat, Wilbur, has vanished. Can Winnie use her magic to track down her missing pet?

Poems by members of This So Called Life, a writing workshop. Contributing Editors: C. E. Laine and Kathy Kubik, with poetry by Sherry Deanne Adams, Andrew Analore, Aaron Brauer, Pris Campbell, Corvin, David Curtis, David Durham, Deidre Elizabeth, Jason Fraley, Fulicasenia, Todd Heldt, Robert Kidd, Donna Hill, Poppy Hullings, Lisa Michelle Maloney, McGrittle, Dorothy Doyle Mienko, Mothdust, Nathan Novikoff, Nyktipolos, Rae Pater, Kari Rabarison, Redkat, J. Reed-Meeks, Heidi L. Nordberg, Sirrus Poe, Christopher R. Robbins, Don Schaeffer, D. K. Sterling, Melanie M. Stevenson, B. A. Stites, The Lost Lost Boy, Valerie Thomas, Paul Trombley, and Wintersong.

Winnie and Wilbur have made a junk robot but Winnie wishes it was real . . . so she pulls out her magic wand. But the real robot is not at all helpful. It''s big and bad and when it grabs Winnie''s wand, things start to get totally out of control. It''s a futuristic Winnie and Wilbur adventure! Korky Paul''s artwork is full of quirky humour and intricate details to pore over. The spellbinding new look of this bestselling series celebrates the wonderful relationship that exists between Winnie the Witch and her big black cat, Wilbur. Since Winnie and Wilbur first appeared in 1987 they have been delighting children and adults in homes and schools all over the world and more than 10 million books have been sold. Check out the website: www.winnieandwilbur.com

In Using Mental Imagery to Enhance Creative and Work-Related Processes, Valerie Thomas explores the productive use of mental imagery skills to engage with the processes of creativity. Practical and original, the book offers detailed guidance for a highly effective method that can provide rich insights into the development of a range of creative enterprises, including artistic and work-related projects. In this accessible and innovative book, Thomas pays equal attention to the theory and application of mental imagery. First, she explains how imagination-based methods have been developed and theorised within the discipline of creative behaviour, especially with regard to dual-processing theories of creativity. The book then considers mental imagery as a dialogical method informed by contemporary post-Cartesian theories of embodied cognition that reprise an earlier premodern understanding of imagination as a mediator between body and mind. Thomas introduces a particular approach to mental imagery that, informed by a functional research-informed framework (the Interactive Communicative model of mental imagery), can be applied very effectively to creative processes. The second half of the book provides detailed guidance on how to apply this particular method and is copiously illustrated with case vignettes. It includes chapters on using imagery theorised as conceptual metaphors such as the plant image for representing creative capabilities and the building image for representing creative and work-related projects. It also explains how to use imagery to represent and work with the conceptual processes of undertaking qualitative research projects. This original and wide-ranging book advances the scope and use of creative image-work in diverse settings. It will be an essential resource for everyone who is interested in developing their own mental imagery skills for creative real-world applications and for all professionals such as coaches, therapists and research educators who want to facilitate creativity in others.

Winnie the Witch lives in a black house. She has black chairs and black stairs, black floors and black doors. The trouble is that Winnie''s cat, Wilbur, is also black. After sitting on him and tripping over him, Winnie decides to turn Wilbur into a green cat. But then he goes out into the long grass! Winnie is going to need a little magic to make sure she can always see Wilbur... A beautifully crafted story with a colourful final twist, this big book is ideal for sharing with a group. ''Both illustrations and story are truly memorable'' Books for Keeps Dedicated website at www.winnie-the-witch.com

Whoops! Winnie the Witch has just sat on Wilbur . . . again! But that''s what happens if you share your black house with a black cat. Abracadabra! Can Winnie find a magical way to put a stop to the accidents? And how will she bring a purr-fectly happy ending to this story full of colourful surprises?

It''s the day of the Witches'' Magic Show and Winnie has a special new spell to perform.

Our exciting new Wilbur toddler and baby board book series is based on the bestselling picture books by Valerie Thomas and Korky Paul. Wilbur the cat is cuddly, friendly, and ready to introduce babies and toddlers everywhere to early-learning concepts with a dash of his very own feline mischief.

Life seems to have it in for Franny Flanders. Her best friends aren’t speaking, her parents just divorced, and her hippie grandmother has moved in. The only karma Franny’s got is bad karma. Then Franny gets her hands on a box of magic recipes that could fix all of her problems. It could even change the world! Finally, life is looking up. But Franny is about to learn that magic and karma aren’t to be played with. When you mess with the universe, it can bite back in unexpected ways. Ouch!

It''s just after midnight. Winnie has gone to bed and is snoring peacefully when Wilbur is woken by a strange noise. He goes downstairs to investigate and, to his horror, discovers a baby dragon squeezing through his cat-flap! Wilbur is not impressed by the scaly visitor, especially when it starts chasing him around Winnie''s house. But the baby dragon just wants to play and, in his exuberance, manages to topple a grandfather clock and knock over a suit of armour. All the clattering wakes Winnie and she''s not happy about a baby dragon in her house, either. After all, there are puffs of smoke coming out of his nose and he might start a fire. So Winnie uses a little magic to turn the smoke into . . . a cloud of butterflies. This makes Wilbur feel better, he loves chasing butterflies! So now Winnie has a baby dragon and a cat who just want to play whereas she just wants to sleep! Winnie decides she''s had enough of babysitting a dragon and goes onto the roof to look for his mother. But how will she catch the attention of a mother dragon flying past? By magicking a full moon over her house! So with mother and baby dragon reunited, Winnie and Wilbur can finally settle down for an overdue good night''s sleep. This story is full of noisy antics: clanging clocks, clattering armour, crashing crockery and the sound of dragon wings beating are just some of the wonderful additions to the narration of Winnie''s Midnight Dragon on the accompanying audio CD.