Spilling the Beans on the Cat's Pyjamas

Spilling the Beans on the Cat's Pyjamas
Author: Judy Parkinson
Publisher: Michael O'Mara Books
Total Pages: 143
Release: 2011-02-17
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 184317667X

Spilling the Beans on the Cat's Pyjamas provides us with the meanings of our well-worn and much-loved phrases by putting these linguistic quirks in context, and explaining how and why they were first used.

Spilling the Beans on the Cat's Pajamas

Spilling the Beans on the Cat's Pajamas
Author: Judy Parkinson
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 149
Release: 2010-10-19
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 1606522841

"Make no bones about it"--here's a "grand slam" for anyone seeking the meanings of catch phrases and quotes that enrich our everyday speech. It "rounds up the usual suspects"--hundreds of expressions that keep our language flourishing--and makes them easy to find in an A-to-Z format. If "all goes according to plan," you'll soon know: The expressions "all that glitters is not gold" and "apple of the eye" have each been in use for more than 1,000 years. "To bark up the wrong tree" comes from the sport of raccoon hunting. "The big enchilada" was used to describe someone on the infamous Watergate tapes. "Flavor of the month" was a generic advertising phrase of the mid-1940s used to describe new ice cream flavors. "Baker's dozen" is 13, one more than the standard dozen, and goes back to medieval times, when Henry III called for the severe punishment of any bakers caught shortchanging customers. English bakers developed the habit of including an extra loaf of bread when asked for a dozen to ensure that they wouldn't be condemned. "Drop of a hat" alludes to the frontier practice of dropping a hat as a signal for a boxing or wrestling match to begin, usually the only formality observed. "Sleep tight" dates back to when beds were made of rope and straw. Before going to sleep at night, people would have to pull the ropes tight, as they would have loosened during the course of the previous night's sleep. With this clever book on hand, you'll never have to "throw in the towel" during a battle of wits. Make this and all of the Blackboard Books(tm) a permanent fixture on your shelf, and you'll have instant access to a breadth of knowledge. Whether you need homework help or want to win that trivia game, this series is the trusted source for fun facts.

The Cat’s Pajamas

The Cat’s Pajamas
Author: Wallace Edwards
Publisher: Kids Can Press Ltd
Total Pages: 32
Release: 2010-08
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 9781771383172

A collection of animal portraits will have you buzzing like a bee in this amusing introduction to idioms and eye-spy book. Depicts twenty-six idioms contextualized within a sentence along with illustrations that bring new meaning to each, and includes explanations of the sayings.

We Have Always Lived in the Castle

We Have Always Lived in the Castle
Author: Shirley Jackson
Publisher:
Total Pages: 188
Release: 1962
Genre: Castles
ISBN:

We Have Always Lived in the Castle is a deliciously unsettling novel about a perverse, isolated, and possibly murderous family and the struggle that ensues when a cousin arrives at their estate.

A Stolen Life

A Stolen Life
Author: Jaycee Dugard
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 293
Release: 2012-07-03
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1451629192

A revelatory memoir about a young woman whose life was stolen when she was kidnapped in 1991 and remained an object of captivity for 18 years.

Well Fed, Flat Broke

Well Fed, Flat Broke
Author: Emily Wight
Publisher: arsenal pulp press
Total Pages: 481
Release: 2015-04-13
Genre: Cooking
ISBN: 1551525801

A down-to-earth cookbook that proves you don't need a lot of money to create nutritious, beautiful meals at home. In this winsome cookbook, blogger Emily Wight offers fantastic recipes, ideas, and advice on how to prepare imaginative, nutritious, and delectable meals without breaking the bank. Perfect for students, families, and anyone on a budget. Well-Fed, Flat Broke proves that while you may occasionally be flat broke, you can always be well fed. This collection of 120 recipes ranges from the simple (perfect scrambled eggs, rice and lentils) to the sublime (Orecchiette with White Beans and Sausage, Mustard-fried Chicken). Chapters are organized by ingredient so that you can easily build a meal from what you have on hand. Well Fed, Flat Broke has flavours to please every palette including Thai, Dutch, Indonesian, and Latin American-inspired recipes such as Kimchi Pancakes, Salvadoran Roast Chicken, and Pantry Kedgeree, reflecting a diverse array of affordable ingredients and products in grocery stores, markets, and delis. Emily is a working mother and wife who lives with a picky toddler in one of Canada's most expensive cities. She offers readers real-talk about food, strategic shopping tips, sound advice for picky eaters, and suggestions on how to build a well-stocked, yet inexpensive pantry. Cooking every night can be challenging for busy families who are short on time and lean in budget; Emily includes plenty of one-pot dishes to keep everyone healthy, full, and happy. With friendly charm and practical advice, Well Fed, Flat Broke will have you eating like a millionaire without having to spend like one. Emily Wight is a writer and home cook who's been blogging about food for the past six years.

The Things They Carried

The Things They Carried
Author: Tim O'Brien
Publisher: HarperCollins
Total Pages: 259
Release: 2009-10-13
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0547420293

A classic work of American literature that has not stopped changing minds and lives since it burst onto the literary scene, The Things They Carried is a ground-breaking meditation on war, memory, imagination, and the redemptive power of storytelling. The Things They Carried depicts the men of Alpha Company: Jimmy Cross, Henry Dobbins, Rat Kiley, Mitchell Sanders, Norman Bowker, Kiowa, and the character Tim O’Brien, who has survived his tour in Vietnam to become a father and writer at the age of forty-three. Taught everywhere—from high school classrooms to graduate seminars in creative writing—it has become required reading for any American and continues to challenge readers in their perceptions of fact and fiction, war and peace, courage and fear and longing. The Things They Carried won France's prestigious Prix du Meilleur Livre Etranger and the Chicago Tribune Heartland Prize; it was also a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award.

Al Capone Does My Shirts

Al Capone Does My Shirts
Author: Gennifer Choldenko
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 290
Release: 2006-04-20
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 1440629633

The Newbery Honor Book and New York Times Bestseller that is historical fiction with a hint of mystery about living at Alcatraz not as a prisoner, but as a kid meeting some of the most famous criminals in our history. Al Capone Does My Shirts has become an instant classic for all kids to read! Today I moved to Alcatraz, a twelve-acre rock covered with cement, topped with bird turd and surrounded by water. I'm not the only kid who lives here. There are twenty-three other kids who live on the island because their dads work as guards or cooks or doctors or electricians for the prison, like my dad does. And then there are a ton of murderers, rapists, hit men, con men, stickup men, embezzlers, connivers, burglars, kidnappers and maybe even an innocent man or two, though I doubt it. The convicts we have are the kind other prisons don't want. I never knew prisons could be picky, but I guess they can. You get to Alcatraz by being the worst of the worst. Unless you're me. I came here because my mother said I had to. A Newbery Honor Book A New York Times Bestseller A People magazine "Best kid's Book" An ALA Book for Young Adults An ALA Notable Book A School Library Journal Best Book of the Year A Krikus Reviews Editor's Choice A San Francisco Chronicle Best Book of the Year A Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year A Parents' Choice Silver Honor Book A New York Public Library "100 Titles for Reading and Sharing" Selection A New York Public Library Best Book for the Teen Age *"Choldenko's pacing is exquisite. . . . [A] great read."—Kirkus Reviews, starred review *"Exceptionally atmospheric, fast-paced and memorable!"—Publishers Weekly, starred review *"The story, told with humor and skill, will fascinate readers."—School Library Journal, starred review "Al is the perfect novel for a young guy or moll who digs books by Gordon Korman, or Louis Sachar."—Time Out New York for Kids "Funny situations and plot twists abound!"—People magazine "Heartstopping in some places, heartrending in others, and most of all, it is heartwarming."—San Francisco Chronicle

Hotel Iris

Hotel Iris
Author: Yoko Ogawa
Publisher: Picador
Total Pages: 173
Release: 2010-03-30
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1429922680

A tale of twisted love from Yoko Ogawa—author of The Diving Pool and The Housekeeper and the Professor. In a crumbling seaside hotel on the coast of Japan, quiet seventeen-year-old Mari works the front desk as her mother tends to the off-season customers. When one night they are forced to expel a middle-aged man and a prostitute from their room, Mari finds herself drawn to the man's voice, in what will become the first gesture of a single long seduction. In spite of her provincial surroundings, and her cool but controlling mother, Mari is a sophisticated observer of human desire, and she sees in this man something she has long been looking for. The man is a proud if threadbare translator living on an island off the coast. A widower, there are whispers around town that he may have murdered his wife. Mari begins to visit him on his island, and he soon initiates her into a dark realm of both pain and pleasure, a place in which she finds herself more at ease even than the translator. As Mari's mother begins to close in on the affair, Mari's sense of what is suitable and what is desirable are recklessly engaged. Hotel Iris is a stirring novel about the sometimes violent ways in which we express intimacy and about the untranslatable essence of love.