Not That Easy

If the women on Sex and the City got dates on a daily basis, and even the more normal-looking girls on Girls, then why wasn’t I? If I wanted to live the fun, twenty something life I was destined to live, I was going to have to up my game.

Slut or saint? Good friend or bad friend? In control or completely out of it?She's avoided boys, always topped her class and is poised to become the first female student council president in years.But being the good girl isn't always easy. Not when Natalie’s advice hurts more than it helps. Not when a boy she once dismissed becomes the one she can't stop thinking about.Soon Natalie’s learning that the line between good and bad is fuzzier than she thought and crossing it could end in disaster . . . or be the best choice she’s ever made.

Slut or saint? Good friend or bad friend? In control or completely out of it?She's avoided boys, always topped her class and is poised to become the first female student council president in years.But being the good girl isn't always easy. Not when Natalie’s advice hurts more than it helps. Not when a boy she once dismissed becomes the one she can't stop thinking about. Soon Natalie’s learning that the line between good and bad is fuzzier than she thought and crossing it could end in disaster . . . or be the best choice she’s ever made.

The girl that could not be named Esther. A true story about jewish names in Nazi-Germany 1938. “You can’t name her Esther. And you can’t name him Joshua. These are not truly Germanic names.” – German bureaucratic and judicial decisions in 1938. Residents of English-speaking countries are in the main accustomed to naming their children with any name they want. Other countries are not so permissive, requiring an approval for registration of names. In Nazi Germany, this ordinarily innocuous law became part of the racist arsenal of the regime, a regime that had enthusiastic adherents all through the bureaucracy and the judicial system. An article in a law journal caught the eye of attorney Winfried Seibert, born in 1938, and he set off on an ingenious search of German history in the Nazi period, looking for the girl “who couldn’t be named Esther.” A determined pastor in a small town in the Ruhr Valley demanded in 1938 that his daughter’s name be registered as “Esther.” He ran into bureaucratic opposition and fought his case through the courts all the way to the Supreme Court for Civil Matters in Berlin. He lost. So did a park ranger, who wanted to perpetuate the family name “Cuno Joshua.” What the author has done in this book resembles the unfolding of a mystery story. Who was this minister, identified only as the “Minister L. from the town of W.”? Why was he so hard-headed? Who were these local officials who so adamantly defended the “purity” of German names? What kind of justice system enforced these laws? The author started with “L. from the town of W.” With some ingenious detective work, he found the town, the likely person, and then even the son of that courageous pastor – though not the daughter “Esther.” This book is a very close examination of the people involved – the minister, the bureaucrats, and especially the judges. The author reconstructs the life stories of the three judges who sat on the Supreme Court. Interestingly, the judges found that Esther was a “criminal prostitute of the Jewish race,” while Ruth, a name that one might expect to be condemned in the same way, was allowed as a “Germanified” name. One of the judges had a daughter named Ruth. The book contains a fascinating reconstruction of the German justice system based on the use of this single case. Through the use of this case, the readers sees the Nazi justice system and Germany itself through its pogroms and then into the war period itself. Instead of relying on masses of data and statistical compilations, this book energetically and passionately moves through the daily activities of Nazi justice. The unfolding of these items is a gripping tale that caught the attention of tens of thousands of German book-buyers and of reviewers throughout the German language press in Germany and in Israel (originally published in 1996). And what of little Esther, who was denied her name so that she would not be embarrassed when she would be taken into the League of German Girls? Named “Elisabeth” by the officials, the author found notice of her baptism in 1946 as Esther. Unhappily, the search showed that the little girl had died of a childhood disease at age 2 ?, but her father had preserved her memory by “renaming” her after the defeat of the Nazis. The pastor himself served in the German army, but continued to incur the wrath of his superiors for his sermons, which used ambiguous language to denigrate the German leadership.

Lena Dunham, acclaimed writer-director-star of HBO and Sky Atlantic’s ‘Girls’ and the award-winning movie ‘Tiny Furniture’, displays her unique powers of observation, wisdom and humour in this exceptional collection of essays.“If I could take what I’ve learned and make one menial job easier for you, or prevent you from having the kind of sex where you feel you must keep your sneakers on in case you want to run away during the act, then every misstep of mine was worthwhile. I’m already predicting my future shame at thinking I had anything to offer you, but also my future glory in having stopped you from trying an expensive juice cleanse or thinking that it was your fault when the person you are dating suddenly backs away, intimidated by the clarity of your personal mission here on earth. No, I am not a sexpert, a psychologist, or a dietician. I am not a mother of three or the owner of a successful hosiery franchise. But I am a girl with a keen interest in having it all, and what follows are hopeful dispatches from the frontlines of that struggle.”

Daisy Spencer's name is on everybody's lips…How could the sensible daughter of Trinity Harbor's self-proclaimed patriarch have taken in the boy caught hot-wiring her car? Whether the boy is a modern-day Huck Finn or not, Trinity Harbor is in an uproar. But for Daisy, guiding the orphaned ten-year-old is easy, an escape from her own tragic past. She can ignore the town's nay-saying. The only real obstacle is…that man.That man is the boy's uncle, Walker Ames, a tough D.C. cop who sees his unexpected nephew as his last chance at redemption. Soon he's commuting to the charming fishbowl of a town, where everyone assumes he's seduced Daisy–their best Sunday-school teacher! But to Walker, Daisy is a disconcerting mix of charming innocence and smart-mouthed excitement in a town that's not as sleepy as it looks.

How do plants make their own food? Why do the different strings on a guitar have different sounds? What does the color of a star tell you about how hot the star is? What's the difference between gamma rays, X-rays, and microwaves? Now you can discover the answers to these and many other fascinating questions about energy for yourself with this fun-filled science resource. Packed with illustrations, Janice VanCleave's Energy for Every Kid presents entertaining, challenging experiments and activities to help you understand the different types of energy–including heat, sound, electricity, and light–and how they bring about change in the world around you. You'll develop your problem-solving skills as you create a «leaping frog» that turns potential energy into kinetic energy, model sound waves with a Slinky?, use a balloon to demonstrate static electricity, make «sun» tea with solar energy, and much more! Each of the activities is broken down into its purpose, a list of materials, step-by-step instructions, expected results, and an easy-to-understand explanation. Plus, all projects have been pretested so you can perform them safely and inexpensively in the classroom, at a science fair, or at home! Also available in the Science for Every Kid series: ASTRONOMY BIOLOGY CHEMISTRY CONSTELLATIONS DINOSAURS EARTH SCIENCE ECOLOGY GEOGRAPHY GEOMETRY THE HUMAN BODY MATH OCEANS PHYSICS

Ellin Bennett had a daughter to raise, a career to save and a newspaper to run. Rescuing a stranded Santa Claus from the roadside was not on her To-Do list. Worse yet, «Santa» was none other than sexy Jack Madden, schoolteacher and part-time writer for Ellin's paper. The man's smile could stop traffic…dangerous for a single mom temporarily stuck in Smallsville!A wife and daughter were not tops on Jack's Christmas list. He'd been a content bachelor until he met Ellin. Getting her to settle down would be no easy task, but this small-town hunk was about to give his sophisticated editor a crash course on love…and family.

Now you can discover the answers to these and many other fascinating questions about engineering for yourself with this fun-filled resource. Janice VanCleave's Engineering for Every Kid presents entertaining, challenging experiments and activities to help you understand the different types of engineering there are—including structural, solar, electrical, and chemical—and how each is applied to real world everyday situations. Each of the activities is broken down into its purpose, a list of easy-to-find materials, step-by-step instructions, expected results, and a simple scientific explanation. Plus, the book’s 25 projects can easily be used in the classroom, as the basis of a science fair project, or at home just for fun!